another problem, any helpful hints

So basically when i took it in for the new distributor, brakes, and who knows what else, the mechanic told me the radiator was leaking and would need to be replaced soon. i think it is time which sucks since i just had the tranny rebuilt about 12 days ago. so i'm going to do this one and was wondering if ya'll had any helpful hints, tricks, or other insightful knowledge that would make this as easy as possible. thanks
blake

So basically when i took it in for the new distributor, brakes, and who knows what else, the mechanic told me the radiator was leaking and would need to be replaced soon. i think it is time which sucks since i just had the tranny rebuilt about 12 days ago. so i'm going to do this one and was wondering if ya'll had any helpful hints, tricks, or other insightful knowledge that would make this as easy as possible. thanks
blake
Its pretty straight forward and not too difficult. The biggest piece of advice I can give is to NOT open the petcock and try to drain it. Just remove the lower hose and do this every time you flush the system too, The petcocks are a small drain and sometimes won't re-seal good when you screw them back in.

And get a big bucket / drain pan(s), alot of something to mop up the mess with, and have everything in place before you start disconnecting everything.

I had coolant ALL OVER the place when I did this. (My rad has no drain... just the hoses.)