hi,

I am wondering what the circled item is?

when repairing the hell hole I have used "picklex" to convert the rust inside the

longs,(minimal from what I can see) using a spray gun with an attachment hose that

I purchased from a company online that sells a different product called "fluid film",

a lanolin product. anyway,,, when I sprayed the rust converter with the

spraygun/hose, some of the product dripped out of these holes that are original...

are these holes, about five per side, meant to allow water to escape from the longs?

also, it would seem that water could make it's way UP into the longs as well.

thinking of caulking them?

forgot the pic
oops


thanksClick to view attachment

randal

Pic?

better pic? i can't figure out what you're trying to show.

My assumption is that they are drains, but curious to see what the brain trust here says.

Yes those are the drain holes. I would keep them open to prevent water entrapment inside the longs.



Guy

One of my cars still has what appear to be factory plugs in those holes, but I've got to think that open would be better. Water getting in is is better than water staying in.

Plugs? Are you sure its not just dirt?

Dirt, undercoating, plus or minus 40 years .............

hi,

if the hell hole is secure, meaning water tight, how could water enter the

longs?

also........ the cover plate that surrounds the jack slot has a weep hole also.

how does water enter it other than through the hole?

none of the pickle exited through that weep hole.

both sides were filled with dirt and blocking those weep holes.

and the dirt was not wet when cleaned out.. I cleaned it right after applying

the picklex.



tks

randal

On mine there appear to be entrance holes that look very similar to the ones on the bottom, but are a bit more open/rounded. They are located about an inch and a half forward from the firewall.

.....of course, these are on top of the inner longs.

The longs are not air and water tight. They also added drain holes to the trailing arms. I have seen early trailing arms with no drain holes. Had them dip stripped and they came back with liquid inside. Heating and cooling of metal can cause condensation of moisture of the metal surface.

tks bd....

now I understand

Yes I agree with Bruce. If the heater gets used then the longitudinal will get warm. The cold outside air will let moisture condense on both inside and outside of the sheetmetal. The water needs a place to get out or it will rust even faster than it already does.

But, but someone told me there couldn't be any condensation inside the longs because they used paper tubes…

They do use paper tubes, but not for the entire length. The purpose of the paper tubes is they act as a noise muffler. The 356C's were the first to start using the paper section in the middle of the heater tubes. Still gonna get hot in there.