‘71 911 floor pan circular indents question

[zeneleven]

I'm restoring a 1971 911T Targa and after removing the carpet, found some rust that will need to be dealt with. My question is about the 6 round indents in the sheet metal on both driver and passenger side.



When I removed the sound deadener it revealed stamped, circular indents in the sheet metal, with punched tabs in their centers.



You can see from the photo below that the punched tabs are separated from the surrounding metal, leaving the interior exposed to the road.



I've gleaned that the tabs were probably punched to allow the floor pan to drain when it was dipped at the factory 50 years ago, and that the sound deadener likely was the sealant.

I'm looking for advice on how to seal up these areas when I strip/rust remove/prime/repaint. I was thinking maybe a layer of filler would be sufficient, and then just prime and paint.
Any insight is appreciated!

[Peter M]

Clean, treat rust, apply seam sealer, prime and paint.