A Cast Iron BB Question

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I have about 40 feet of cast iron baseboard that I am installing... I'm not sure the brand, it's old and doesn't have any identifying castings on it, it looks a lot like the WM Snug, but the end pieces are different... I had my local heating guy look at it, and he couldn't identify it, but decided to use the specs from WM Snug for heatloss purposes.

Anyways, I have it all apart right now, had it all sandblasted, powdercoated it all, so it's beautiful, finally getting ready to put it back together... I know that there are special tools for snugging the sections back up, but I've been cheating and using long pipe clamps- putting a thin layer of pipe dope on the push nipples and using the pipe clamps (cushioned with wood blocks) to press the sections together... This seems to have worked, I haven't started installing yet, but pressure tested a couple test sections to 30psi... My questions are: Is my method of connecting sufficient? It seems to work, pressure tests fine up to 35psi, but that's just connecting a couple sections together to test... Does anyone have any experience pressing these together without the special tool? Also, I'm planning on piping these in a monoflow loop using the bottom tappings for in and out and plugging the top tappings (with a vent in one) as per my heating guy's instructions... I just wanted to be sure that this is how everyone else would do it... It seems right, but when I bought the baseboard (used) it had been piped to go in the bottom and out the top... Any ideas?

Big Ed_4

If it works

The tool would have made the work go faster .It does the same job... It is always better to use the top fitting for a supply , but if you can not for what ever reason , you can use the bottom. Using the top distribute the out put more evenly across the sections.