Inner sill, query?

[canuck]

Chaps,
For those of us that have had the pleasure of the 'deep dive' into rust repair I have this question.

The inner sill box section that runs for aft either side of the floor pan has two removable plugs, each.
These have an incorporated  'clip', are slightly dished in shape and measure 60mm diameter.




These plugs fit into holes that are in the side of the inner sill, with one at front one at rear,  about 200mm from each end.
The holes are shown, (one needs to squint)  in the parts list schema, item #20



and my photo below. 



I have no idea the function of these plugs, so;

should I reuse them?
simply block the existing holes in the sill side? (gaffer tape comes to mind  )
leave the hole open as is? 

I see no practical use or function of a required access through these holes if in fact they are access holes?   The only reason I ask is I only salvaged 2 of the 4 from the repairs I did.

FWIW the sill carpet will hide these holes very well if left open.


Any input appreciated.

Salut
Bruce

[2robert4]

Bruce

Having worked in engineering since Adam was a lad, I have come across these types of random holes and they are mainly used for Jigs to hold parts in position accurately in the manufacturing process either for welding or bolting into place and in my humble opinion this is exactly what these hole are for. So I think it is up to you how you wish to proceed as there is no structural integrity involved and they are merely blanks. For your information Ford used to cover such holes with a reinforced Packing Tape and then the carpet would go in over the top to make it all look good.

NP

[canuck]

Hello Nigel,
You could well be correct.
I as well engineered complex tooling solutions using mostly 1, 2, 3 fixture principles, tooling plates etc. .   

I think that a large hole such as these requiring a complicated finishing plug is a poor approach to tooling indexes but we don't know what was going on with these car builds at the time.
However I can't think of any other reason for these holes and hesitantly agree with you. 

For sure monocoque carbodies (unibody) manufacturing was in its youth at this time. 

Keep well
Bruce

[tonyhosk]

Well I'm glad you two have sorted that out!

Tony

[kiwimc]

I've never peeled my carpet back, so didn't know they existed.  Can they easily be removed without breaking the clip?

[canuck]

Nov 1, 2021 22:34:47 GMT tonyhosk said:

Well I'm glad you two have sorted that out!

Tony

I think we simply surmised,   I know I did, hence my query. 
It would be nice to know for sure 



"Posted by kiwimc
I've never peeled my carpet back, so didn't know they existed. Can they easily be removed without breaking the clip?"

John,
These plugs are simply pressed in and held by a spring clip.
I think these can be 'popped' out if one is careful, however not sure why one would want to?.



You should be able to compress this spring clip thingy by compressing  the tabs, one seen on the LH side of the clip inwards and pry out. In my case these were easily removed when I had corroded away outer sill and vertical membrane removed.  

Let us know how you make out.

Bruce

[kiwimc]

Thanks Bruce, just thinking of access for cavity wax or fishoilene.