toyvo - i ordered them from our sponsoring vendor so i dont think they would be metric and maybe they are not brass threads after all - may only look that way due to their color. i did not realize as others have mentioned that they really need to be cranked down to "seat" the flange good. again, i hope that is all that is wrong. thanks for the info on the bending tool. i started to make my own but i don't get to work on it very often and i was trying to speed things up a little bit.
