Back on the road after year- water leak

Hi Everyone after to many years in my garage I finally managed to get my GTA Turbo back on the road, its scary how quick the years whizz by when kids start popping up.
I only needed to have the front calipers refurbed and a few other minor fixes plus a sympathetic mot tester and i was back on the road again. After getting used to how much fun and how quick these cars are I noticed a small leak in the footwells. The leak turned into a pool and after gleaming vital info from this forum I have located the water pipes to the heater matrix but access is a problem. How do you get the plastic cover out that is below the battery tray without cutting it or removing the battery tray as mine is riveted in.I just want access to join the water pipes together for the summer and deal with the matrix later, unless there is and quicker way round this??

Thanks for any info you can offer guys

Kevin

It will come out but a bit of a fiddle .Should be bolts holding it in but maybe been replaced at some point .I'd not bother and cap or link the pipes on the underside .One is from the main rad hose and the other feeds to a small bore metal pipe .Just link it there .

Thats great thanks for the info, hopefully I will be back on the soon enough and hope the weather doesn't turn cold for a while.