Sorry you are having problems. Converting and/or modifying specialty plumbing is one of my personal hobbies, and one I've gotten pretty good at.
Sorry again for not being to help much here, but trying to decipher, process, and convey such information within the context of a thread is like attemping to conduct heart surgery over the telephone.
This is a "hands on/eyes on" situation. If you were closer I would love to help but a 2 hour drive each way is a bit much.
As for CAD Lights:
In their defense (just playing Devil's advocate here)
1) They just finished exhibiting in a major trade show. I for one can tell you this guy is not at home taking phone calls and answering e-mails. If he's smart hes now laying on a secluded beach somewhere South of Barbados, smoking a CAO cigar, sipping Madori Pina Coladas, and listening to a mediocre Ragae band playing in the distance. Yes, that is where that guy is.
2) Products made in China - Yes, Plumbing metric - Yes, inexpensive build quality - Yes
I'm sorry but this is exactly what the doctor ordered! Great companies such as Saturn, Craftsman (the Original, not this Ryobi-branded crap) and McDonnell Douglas all went out of business for similar reasons:
We as consumers want CHEAP, DISPOSABLE (but looks really pretty) CHINESE MADE CRAP! I'm sorry but the dollar bills votes have spoken. As for the pluming, metric sizing doesn't necessarily mean it is negative or of less quality. Most of the world uses the metric system, North America for some reason chooses to rebel.
3) As a business man myself, I can tell you with absolute certainty that there IS NO all-Amercian girl named Doris sitting at a desk waiting to answer our phone calls, much less a Polytech trained engineer available to answer our questions. We want CHEAP, remember? Ohhhh, don't deny it (I see you there shaking your head no) Tell me you didn't just last week pass up the nice thick cast-acrylic media reactor for some cheap extruded plastic POS from Southern XENIAHAI (or however its spelled/doesn't matter) Cheap doesn't allow for quality materials, Cheap doesn't allow for warranties, and most of all, cheap doesn't allow for full time employees with accompanying payroll taxes, health plans, pensions, holiday pay, and year-end Christmas Party.....NOPE, cheap doesn't recognize such concepts.
We are ALL guilty people, for the crap that we receive. Sorry if that is not the motivational speech of the year but at least it is accurate. More importantly, it is the truth.