I'm presently attempting to restore the rusted out section of my 122S Wagon (P220)'s lower tailgate. if you are familiar with it you know that there is a section along the bottom that is not accessible from the rear of the panel or from the interior. It's very narrow and almost touches the inner part of the sheet metal. Confused yet?

My question is this. Should there be a gap between the inner and the outter skin of the lower tailgate edge? I'm talking a .5 - 1 cm wide gap running along the entre bottom edge where the inner and outter door skins almost meet My gut says yes, it's probably there to drain any water that gets into the tailgate. However, this is a wide gap that runs the length of the tailgate bottom edge. The gap in the panel below it is much more intentional looking and with obvious drain holes. The tailgate gap seems like overkill and looks to be and a likely point of entry for all sorts of rust causing fluids.

The rust holes are fairly small (quarter sized) but there are several and long the lower esge. I've sealed up the exterior with POR-15. I'd like to apply some of the fiberglass patch along the backside, then use the por putty to fill in the holes. I fear that when I do this, it will clog up that gap and then water will have nowhere to go in the future - if that gap is supposed to be there.

Let me know if you need pictures to clarify the issue

--
You mean Volvo makes cars that are *NOT* Wagons?!?