Just touching back on my gauntlets.. I had them in coffee for over a week as suggested to get the right stain, but it didn't do nothing, not a blemish....thinking maybe I should make a stronger brew ha!.
I did however get hold of some better couplers from a shower hose and make the fit to the hose in such a way that I can unscrew them from the gauntlet for storage, I also added the inner cable using sky TV shotgun cable works a treat
Here is the inner part with the cable attached to the coupler retaining plate
[ATTACH=full]140429[/ATTACH]
This is the coupler I am using, need to paint that chrome out but should look better than the original part I was going to use