Rambozo yes I am weldinf the 14/"-20 nuts to the side and I did think about threading the coupling nut. These are SS and the wall is very thin not thick like a zinc plated coupling nut. This is why I decided to weld the nuts on. I'm going to see if I can get some flange nuts locally. I will check the dimensions and see if it will fit on the coupling nuts.
Mark is there such thing as unfinished SS nuts?