Plugging the drain holes

[Ed]

I'm getting the undercarrage coated with bedliner pretty soon. Mostly the areas where the original undercoating was. I was contemplating covering the drain holes only in the floor pans and having the undercoating seal the holes. I never plan on driving my car in the rain or take it into a lake. With the popularity of shop vacs now a days. I was wondering if these drain holes are really that practical. I have five in my floor and rust seems to love these areas. Any comments? Should they stay or go?

[Fun_in_my_z]

I would. It couldnt hurt. If it did get wet the liner would protect it i would think.....but im dumb:stupid:

[MikeW]

Originally posted by Ed

I have five in my floor and rust seems to love these areas. Any comments? Should they stay or go?

I'm kind of wondering the same thing. I can't imaging ever getting myself into a situation where I'd need the plugs and you're right, a shop vac would be a much faster way of getting the water out. However, since I used POR15 and Dynamat I just cut holes in the Dynamat and put the plugs back in. Actually, I could only find 7 out of 8 so if you don't need them I could use one.

[Alan Pugh]

Hi Ed and everyone,

One of the first things I did was to cut round patches and weld up all the drain holes in the floor. I see no need for them even if you are driving in the rain, and if my car goes into a lake I don't think i'll be sitting there thinking, lucky i've got drain holes in the floor pan.

Who here in normal everyday use of their road car has ever removed these plugs to drain water out?

For an absolute pure 100% restoration, leave them in otherwise I think they are rust starters.

Alan P.

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by Alan Pugh

Who here in normal everyday use of their road car has ever removed these plugs to drain water out?

For an absolute pure 100% restoration, leave them in otherwise I think they are rust starters.

Alan P.

I have used them to drain water from my car when I had a bad door weatherseal that allowed rain water to enter. (one is not always at home when this type of need may ocur so having a shop vac at home is not always something you can rely upon using.

My floorpans have now been coated with POR15 inside and outside. I do not anticipate rust being an issue. I did seal the small holes at the bottom of the seatbelt retractor pockets because almost every retractor I have seen has been rusty. (I assume this is due to water splashing up into the pockets through those holes)