While searching the site for "detailed and precise" information about which body and frame holes need rubber plugs, I came across this thread.
Although the holes in the cross members under and behind the seats appear not to have been plugged for the 230SLs, the 250SLs and early 280SLs, the EPC calls for (6) A1134870044 plugs for the holes in the cross member below the seats and (3) in the cross member below the auxiliary seat for 280SLs beginning with 044 005620.
My 67 230SL has only (5) 20 mm holes in the cross member below the seats (2 driver side and 3 passenger side) and (3) 20 mm holes in the cross member below the auxiliary seat (forward of kinder seat). I don't know why they waited until the 280SL series to begin to plug those holes, but the holes are so near the floor that if a car gets caught in a rain storm with the top down, water will get in the cross members and there is almost no way to get the water out without drilling holes and purging them with lots of air flow to dry them.
I'm going to plug mine now that they have been treated with rust preventative.
By the way, I'm really disappointed to find so little "detailed" information about which plugs and grommets go where in a car that has been so popular for 51 years. The BBB, Chilton's and Haynes are useless for body information; and the EPC is so general and often so wrong that it too is almost useless for body stuff. Grommets and plugs appear in the sketches as a couple of pixels to show that something goes somewhere, but no detailed information. MB's current pride in the "marque" was not demonstrated in the 1960s by their confidence in the longevity of the cars they produced, so they gave repairs what my mother would have called, "a lick and a promise", i.e., a minor effort now and a promise to do better later.
As I restore mine, I will continue to document everything I do and if I still have any energy left when it's complete, I'll publish it.
Tom Kizer
