Mmm not a bad call at all, I can see how they would fit quite neatly, though at the minute now I have an operational stereo it's pretty well bottom of the list. Sound quality seems good, though does make quite a difference having the windows open too given how far away the speakers are... and god help any rear seat passengers if I decide I want some tunes on :slayer:.

I'll add it on the list and one day get on to it, though by then it'll be a pretty mean looking Panda! Talking of which took it out this evening with the kayaks on the roof, figured I'd better make sure they are secure before setting off to Scotland! Got several waves, my photo taken and offered drugs, all in about 25 minutes. Feeling a little inconspicuous!

So been a while but I'm back! Took some time off work in the summer and didn't manage to get back on top of things until after Christmas! Not sure how 3 weeks off for the Russia trip is going to work but more on that on another post, I'll keep this thread as strictly as possible to work on the car, which brings me on to my current job!

When I bought the car John did say it had been loosing coolant, reason unknown, which is one of the reasons I replaced the radiator, thermostat and water pump. I've now done 3k miles and generally it has been running really well. About 1000 miles into my ownership of the car did loose coolant and I had to stop to prevent it overheating a couple of times but I was on a long motorway run with the car loaded up to the roof so figured I'd probably just tested it a little too thoroughly.

After that trip things returned to normal all running well but then a few months later I started loosing coolant a lot and as I've been so busy with work basically parked it up to come back to when I had time to do something about it... which is now.

So I spoke to my mechanic mate who basically said, notorious for head gasket failure, get it done, especially since we are going abroad in it, better get things sorted now. I did start looking in to which make of gasket to use etc. etc. but remembered from a thread on here somewhere that when John bought it the heater matrix was either not there, or bypassed with a piece of poly pipe in instead so I figured I'd give that a go.

With the heater bypassed I've done a few runs and left the car running in the yard at work for an hour and have not lost a drop of coolant, all seems well

I've had a bit of a look on here and have seen mixed reviews about the complexity of removing the heater matrix and also the possible causes of the issue. Given most of my mechanical experience is based on motorbikes I've never really given heaters much thought but I gather in this case there is a tap which cuts coolant off from the matrix when the heater is off, which is prone to leak and may need replacing... if this is the case any idea if I still need to remove the whole matrix? Or any obvious signs this is the issue?

Guess I'll be learning about a whole 'nother chunk of Panda in the coming days/weeks, all I've learnt so far is it's damn cold at the moment and de misting the windows with no heater takes a lot of elbow grease!

As a form of mild procrastination I have also had my mate take the tyre off the spare wheel for me so I can start looking at wheel refurbing, the tyre was DOT marked either 83 or 93 and I'd never have driven on it so figured I might as well get on with it. I had hoped that the solvent degreaser at the electro-platers would lift the paint but it was tougher than expected so back to the drawing board on that one, my options being a) sand blast them myself with a very crap compressor, b) get a local guy to sand blast them for me for £5 a rim... but he is reffered to by the powder coater as 'Blind John' or c) pay £140 for a guy to do the full job cos we won't do part of the job (way to much for what I need).


Apologies for having disappeared and then for such a boring post with no pictures, next post I'll hopefully have something to actually show!

Matrix removal 1 hour replacement 1-2 hours it will be the plastic valve assembly split that’s failed . I have s full set of rims ( 5 )ex 4x4 if your interested too ! But no valve

Keep your fingers crossed then! Is there a recommended brand replacement for the valve to stop it happening again, on Fleabay there a few heater matrix's with taps on for sale, fairly cheaply so I assume a decent valve on its own should not be too pricey.

I'll have to leave the wheels thanks, I've already got the other set winter/summer tyres racked up in the workshop which I can kind of get away with as I can store things inside them... if another set of rims turned up it might be a little bit much!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RUBINETT...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Don't know about "a brand to stop it happening again" - it's a plastic & rubber moving part which has lasted around 20 years in a hot environment before failing which I reckon is not bad. Seem to remember there's a black and a white plastic version which are not interchangeable .. I think. Have a look at yours before committing anyway. Had to change mine and it is way easier to remove the heater matrix than to try and swap the valve in situ. The whole thing comes out as a single unit right through to the interior heater controls so when you've loosened everything under the bonnet you have to take the front off the dash and remove the screws holding the heater sliders in place before you pull it out.

Fair point I suppose it is around 25 years old now, still if I could prevent me needing to do it again in another 25 years then that'd be a bonus . As described I managed to get the heater Matrix out, wasn't too impressed with it so have ordered another one which should be with me Wednesday. I'll write up a report on progress once it's all done as I didn't take pictures of the stuff I needed to undo as I just undid everything until it came out, I'll make notes putting it back in instead. Also noticed one of my HT leads arcing on the engine causing a bit of a misfire while sorting it all so got some new leads coming this week too.

So... heater matrix based disaster!

The new heater Matrix yesterday so this evening I figured I'd get it fitted. Didn't know if I'd get it all finished but figured I'd make some serious progress, then I made a complete hash of it

The new heater matrix arrived with the tap too and I was generally pretty pleased with it:



I laid it out next to the old part and they looked pretty compatible, the only difference being a plastic bracket on the end with the pipes on the new matrix which was not there on the old one:



When I went to fit the new matrix this plastic tab got in the way of the screw which holds the cable for opening and closing the valve in place, figured it was not a problem I'd just cut the little bracket off, as it was clearly not required for my car :bang:



I should have guessed by the speed at which I was cutting through it I was in trouble, the plastic was hollow and I had just cut a large hole in the side of my brand new heater matrix. I did consider trying to seal up the hole somehow but after consulting with my dad who is a plumber the consensus was with the pressure and temp. it would be exposed to it'd only be a matter of time before a repair would fail. Faced with, a little time on my hands and an old matrix leaking on the core itself and possibly a little on the valve and a new matrix with one end destroyed I figured at this stage I might as well see if I could butcher the 2 and make a good one, nothing to lose at this stage

I got the two end pieces off that I needed to swap over initially. I think there is a knack to pulling back the little tabs, a knack I had pretty well got by the time I finished the job! Was a bit of a challenge as the tabs on the 2 were a little different, plus I had to focus on not damaging the end bit on the old Matrix and the core on the new one.




Getting the old end to fit on the new core was also a little challenging, I thing being from different manufacturers it might have been a bit of a square peg round hole situation but again by the time I'd finished I'd worked out a system with vice grips, one on each corner to hold the bits together, then another to fold the tabs back over:



So in the end it sort of looks the part:




Even if a bit of a Franken-Matrix, with the different coloured ends and the new fins having taken a bit of a battering. I tried my best not to damage them, and the matrix in general but if this was successful or not I don't know yet. Typically I'd put the foam on the new one before I started too and some of that has already worn off against the work bench.

I 'pressure-tested' it by blowing down the tube with my finger over the hole and I could not feel a leak but I'll have to test it properly before actually fitting it. Then I've got one final problem to overcome, the seals on the two taps are different, with the new matrix having had a larger rubber o-ring and the valve having a completely flat mating surface, the old one a smaller seal and the valve having a raised ring on it. I was not sure if the old valve was weeping slightly anyway so would rather fit the new one but I'm not convinced I can get a good seal out of either of them yet! Any ideas welcome:



So yeah really not a great evenings work, still after the initial mistake which cost me a brand new matrix, the damage was done so if nothing else from the rest of the evening I've learnt a bit about heater matrix's and wasted a couple of hours in a freezing workshop!

Use plenty of silicon sealant with the seal then leave to gel before mailting both parts To test it plumb it up to garden hose then blank off the other end then leave over night with the pressure on hopefully it’s fixed.

Well the good news is both the seal between the valve and matrix and the matrix end cap and core look good... the bad news is in the process the core must have taken damage, it has a massive leak where one of the centre pipes connects to the end cap .

So at this stage I've wrecked a new heater matrix which may have been for a different model (no idea what the extra bit was for) so have ended up with an over priced but brand new valve. Just need to source the correct Matrix get it all fitted and it's good to go... so pretty well where I was a week or so ago :bang:

Looks like the Volvo is getting a holiday in Somerset!

Phiz

firstcar-Y10 said:

If you're just mounting one pair of big speakers at the back it's worth mounting a pair of tweeters either end of the dash roll just to stop it sounding like it's all behind you. Takes up very little space but does make a surprising difference to the sound - did it with my very first Panda as the speakers were mounted in the side panels by the back seat. Bass frequencies are not very directional (why you can mount a sub wherever) but the high frequencies you can pick out clearly where they are coming from.

This sort of thing:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/33609-Oval-Angled-Mounting-Car-Stereo-Dome-Tweeters-Pair-Component-Speakers/281772429074?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D43781%26meid%3D4882269345174c0aa17512b71e39b006%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D352088195906

Click to expand...

So been doing quite a bit more work on Demitri the past few weeks, which hopefully I'll write up on soon, such as finally sorting the heater matrix and getting the wheels sorted out but one thing I have done is as mentioned above, fitted a couple of speakers in the front. I got a couple of 4" JVC 210w speakers and the magnets fit in the little recesses in the plastic end caps from the dash role, as suggested I've virtually lost no storage and it makes a huge difference, especially at motorway speeds.

They are also really well hidden, if anyone looks in they would certainly not see them and I got a mate in the car who was into the custom car scene, I asked what he thought of the speakers and he could not see them!

After all that messing around with the back speakers we've now decided it'll be best to keep the rear seats in for the trip so we can hide the contents of the car better from a security standpoint so I've also just made a ply parcelshelf, with the speakers mounted on the underside and fabric over the top so all speakers are completely hidden.

Hopefully I'll post a bit more about work on the car on here soon and get something a bit more exciting to put on the Adventures of Demitri thread:slayer:

Phiz