Body Plug Holes - Why shouldn't I weld these ugly holes up?

[CudaDownUnder]

Hi Everyone,

Why do cars have holes in the floor/trunk that are filled with rubber plugs?
The reason I ask this is that I have my Cuda on a rotisserie at the moment and got to thinking "why shouldn't I weld these ugly holes up?"

My initial thought was to let water out if the car got flooded but some holes are on high areas where water would not sit.

Are they used on the production line for alignment? Some of them could be used to access underlying areas, I suppose.

Any thoughts/facts?

[MEK-Dangerfield]

I think most are drain plugs, but I have a 70 Challenger. You need to have access to the top of the rear shocks on my car. The plugs probably varied over the years and make of car.

[PlumCraZRT]

"why shouldn't I weld these ugly holes up?"

I've been wondering the same thing...   

The only purpose I see them having is breaking and getting my carpet wet when it rains (then eventually rusting the floorboards).

[tommyg29]

if you want your car to retain factory originality then obviously keep the plugs. If not, go for it, although some are needed for accessing things like the rear shocks, etc.

[dodj]

I wonder,......has anybody ever had to remove these plugs to drain their car? If you did, what kind of s&^% did you get into?

[burdar]

Right before the cars were painted, they were dipped in huge pools of degreaser, rust protectant and primer.  They had to get the excess material out of the car. 

I'm sure most of you have noticed a visable line on the inside of your cars if you've ever had the interior completely out.  That's the dip line.  The bottom half of the car was dipped in a rust protectant.  I often wonder how rusty these cars would be if that hadn't been done.  It sure didn't stop any rust that I can see.

Here's a picture from PCG's website showing a car being dipped.
http://www.performancecargraphics.com/Paints_Dyes/Dip_Tank_Primer.htm

[CudaDownUnder]

Thanks for your replies.

Here's a summary:

1. The holes were there to drain paint from the body during the factory dunking process - I won't be dunking so that's not a problem.
2. Originality - I'm doing a restomod so that doesn't concern me.
3. Access to rear shocker mounts - I haven't decided if I'm going with leaf springs or a 4-bar set-up so I will keep that in mind.

The only deterent now is that I have to make all the metal circles to weld into the holes... any time saving ideas?

[mopar12372]

use different size hole saws to make perfect circles , thats if you could find the size hole saws for the proper hole.

[CudaDownUnder]

I just had a brilliant thought...
I can cut the metal surrounding the round holes and make them into square holes -  then the square patch pieces will be far easier to make!