I stripped most of my interior down for cleaning and carpet replacement last weekend, and after pulling the rear carpet, I noticed that a little bit of dirt and grime seems to be getting in around the rear shock mount plates. It looks like the factory body sealer has separated where the panels meet, seemingly from vibration or movement. Has anyone else had this problem? I'm thinking of welding the plates to the car to reinforce them, has anyone else done that? If nothing else, I plan to re-seal it with some silicone sealant to stop the dirt from getting in.

This isn't a pic of my car, but these are the seals I'm talking about:

 

is it dirt of just that wonderful nasty black goo sealer they used? I had the same sealer in that area in mine. If you want to weld them thats cool, but so long as nothing is rusty you should be good to go

 

It's definitely road grime, the body sealer in that area is white. Some of the grime had made it's way down to the rear seats, which was a total pain to clean off. There is no rust, but i'll have to grind/scrape off the original body sealer, so I can weld there.

 

My shocks broke right through there... anyone seen a repair kit?

 

Weld 'em up. Gas shocks will pull them out. Sounds like they have started.
I had a fabricator weld mine up YEARS ago. I don't know of a kit, anyone else??

 

What/where did you weld?
My 83 RR shock pulled out from the body. The metal there is torn up. I'm trying to find a good way to reinforce the shock mount. Maybe a repair kit exists but I havent found one.

 

You just need to have someone reinforce the whole area around the top mount. Do both sides. Find someone who does fabrication work on drag racers or oval track cars. It will be a walk in the park for them.