Thanks for the comments Guys!
I must admit I'm a bit relieved it fitted first try - the bender has all the measments about how much you lose or gain on a bend, but got a bit confusing in the end so I just eyeballed it.
I hope no-one will be disappointed - but I was just going to paint it black! Sort of the subtle factory fitted effect rather than 'look at me!'. But copper is perfect to chrome if you like that sort of thing.
May I suggest the following,
Bend the brackets around the pipe and then solder. I have seen this set up before done on older 4WD and where the silver solder is will rupture due to vibration. By wrapping the bracket around the pipe prevent this from ocurring
Excellent idea AC - I will do that. I did have the brackets wrapped around underneath so it looked neat on top, but reliability is more important. Thanks.
I did some more thinking/asking about this and in the case that a thermostat shuts down then yes this method for bypassing it may work, however in a normally functioning system the water is likely to just get confused and not travel the pipe. The water pump will be trying to push it from the heater outlet end and the water pressure in the header tank will be pushing it from the other end.
A couple of holes drilled in the thermostat base would offer the same protection without the risk of pipe fatigue or breakage.
Terry
I understand your thinking Terry, but I don't believe it will work like that. The water is in a closed loop, traveling in one direction assisted by the pump. Water is pushed into the block by the pump, and out the heater outlet across to the top tank. From here is is sucked or pushed down the core into the bottom hose to go around again. When the thermostat opens there will be more flow through the radiator, but it will all still go in the same direction. The water pump will push on both the top hose and the bypass, and both flows will have to go down through the radiator to the bottom hose to the suction side of the pump to replace the coolant the pump has pushed out of the block.
The pipe I have is plumbed exactly the same as the top radiator hose - except it comes off the other end of the head and doesn't have a thermostat. It is also very similar to the later heater setup, except the return is to the top tank and not the bottom - the only difference is the coolant travels down a tube inside the radiator and not one soldered to the side.
Holes in the thermostat are a good option, and what I have on Arnold (although he has a heater as well). The advantage of this system is it takes water from the hottest part of the head, and replaces it with cooled water from the radiator. It also increases the total flow through the radiator if the thermostat is ever full open. I wouldn't bother if I had a heater, as this does the same thing with the heater core doing the cooling instead of the radiator.
At the end of the day, the difference probably won't be noticable - but if it never overheats then I'm happy!
Cheers, MD.