On our 68 chevelle down where the cowl drains is rusted out to the size of a baseball once I cut out all the rusted metal.

My dumb question of the day is, what be the reason to put a patch panel back to form the original look of the area?

My thinking is seal up the metal that I ground the rust off of and leave the larger "drain" hole. Since it all will be covered up and I don't think that the cab vent will be jeopardized with a larger drain hole what are your guys thought.

Back ground on the car, its a Malibu car that has a salvage title so as far as value I am not too worried about making a show car out of it.

Down south we would call that a Critter Hole. You leave it larger and you'll have company. Just looked at my friends 68 that has been in covered storage 25+ years and it had no hole in it. Full of stuff!, but no rust.

LOL on the critter hole. the passenger side only about the size of a golf ball meaning I could just fit it in without any debris but the driveer side was full of all kinds of crap causing all the rust I bet. this was a junk yard car for several years I think.

LOL on the critter hole. the passenger side only about the size of a golf ball meaning I could just fit it in without any debris but the driveer side was full of all kinds of crap causing all the rust I bet. this was a junk yard car for several years I think.

Again, Down south we use the fraze "one man's trash is another's man's treasure" and "from junk to jewerly" or "only brush the teeth you want to keep". That last one is like "fix it right the first time so you don't have to fix it again later". You get the point, so what if she is not a Queen, treat her like a Queen and she'll be "your Queen". :yes:

point well taken, dont get me wrong this is my 20 yr old sons ride we are working on, it may have spent a few years in a small junk yard but she has a home now with blood and sweat being poured into her,,mostly my blood and sweat.

You are not alone Bob, it seemed like a good idea to me too so I left the bottoms open to let the debris fall on through.
Never thought about critters, I guess I'll have to keep it clean by running the garden hose down from above when washing the car.