I removed the bypass valves and replaced the heater matrix after loads of cursing and kicking and punching, i ended up kicking the

out of it until it broke then pulled all the broken pieces out and glued/duct taped them all back in. Did a great job fixing the heater box back up, anyway...
I put 2.5 litres of coolant in there and about 2litres of water and the car only warms up a little like luke warm. Did i use too much coolant? Im getting a weird smell as well, must be of the oil from the matrix etc. Im thinking of blocking the front of the rad with some card board so that it warms up quicker.... will this work?
also i blew the rev counter up in the process.... how do i fix the rev counter? did i blow the circuit board up or something? whats the rev counter connected to inside the car, like fuses, relays etc...