Body plugs

[reluctantartist]

After going over areas under neath the car I had to remove a few body plugs under neath and there were a few places that must have had them but are missing. so what are the pros and cons of having these in. It seems they are good for keeping stuff out but also good for making it rust inside by keeping moisture inside.

Thanks.
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1982 Westy, 1974 412 Variant... Yes, Aircooled's are great! Oh and I do have modern computer controlled vehicles too, but I just don't care about them.

[raygreenwood]

You definately need to have them. They do keep out moisture, dust, insects, small rodents and cold air. I am going off memory here....but I think there are two body plugs on the tunnel centerline that are drains. They look like grommets and usually have a hole or slot that lets water that has leaked in and run down the floorboard....drip out.

The problem are other body plugs that do not have drains and were there as construction or access ports. Those are usually the ones that are slathered with sealant.

The way I am going to handle those is to grind away the sealant, pull the plugs off and if the area is unaccessable from the other side I am going to remove any foam that is in there and then use Eastwood frame and body cavity rust killer and sealer...same for the heater channels. Take a look on their site for this product. It uses a wand with a fogging tip to spray inside of inaccessible areas.
It uses a rust neutralizer like phosphoric acid and then has a sealer that makes it basically waterproof.

The real problem with these cars is not so much the body plugs.....its leakage from several key areas......
1. With age...I have not found one single 411 or 412...even as far back as the 80s....that did not have some leakage from the window and windshield gaskets as they shrank up with age.....especially the lower corners of the front windshield. ...which will drip....and not be noticed visually...down each lower forward pillar and run into the floorboards under the catpet and into the tunnel and heater channel areas. Usually your first clue this is happening is condensation that you just, cant get rid of (during extended wet weather)...and water in the relays of the fuse block because the fuse block is mounted in the lower A pillar.....and the rear windshield gaskets on virtually all two and four door sedans leaks like a sieve at the lower edge due to shrinkage.
Again its usually unnoticeable for a long time because it runs under the cardboard fascia down under the carpet and channels to the lower floor boards. Eventually the carboard fascia under the rear glass curls up and craters and thats when you figure out the leakage.

By the way...that cardboard fascis in the rear is very important as it is an active part of the rear glass defrosters and is linked to the two "gills" on the C pillar in the rear of the sedans and the three small rear gills on each side of the wagon models.
This whole mess is fed with draft free air by the ground edge of the drivers and passengers door windows....which create airflow along the head liner to the rear to dry the rear windshield...and pull out the rear gills.

2. The second worst rust issue are the damn holes drilled in the doors and quarter panela for the trim strip mounting clips. Both the small clips that hold the belt line level trim and the large clips that hold the rocker panel trim strips.....when new....have a red, treated paper washer that seals around the small body hole. As that paper washer craps ....these trim clips leak like hell.
I am welding all of my trim clip hole up. I will, devise some adhesjve surface mount trim for the belt line....but the lower trim strip is just a rust maker. Ray