What is this panel? Warning: 99.44% useless thread (1 Viewer)

[Manhattan]

What is this:

Oh sure - I could remove that bolt, break the seal and discover for myself. But, I have a feeling it's one of those "Oh... no. One does NOT remove that panel." kind of things.

 

[ferg]

It's there to make you ask a question. Mission accomplished.

 

[KLF]

No eye dear.

But I've always wondered the same thing. Seems like a lot of extra manufacturing, for no benefit.

Here's what it looks like from the other side, amazingly smooth, no seam evident.

 

[Toast]

During the assembly process, various panels have a random bolt here and there to hold things in place for the spot welding machine to come along and finish the process. I did body work for 3 years and when you look up certain panel replacements on all data it would show some panels being held in place by a bolt or 2 to help the tech get everything lined up. It’s kind of the same idea of having a few studs to hold a part in place while you thread in the remaining bolts. This was on the various cruiser models too. If I remember right, my 40 series has a random bolt or 2 on the underside rocker panel or something like that. Hope this all makes sense