steel tail light install/body holes?

[Hellbent]

i haven't seen any mention of this anywhere...
i'm going to be putting in my jcr tail light boxes pretty soon. on a '96-down, when you pull the stock tail lights, obviously you're left with two body holes on each side. without the stock lights with the seals around them, you now have nothing to stop water, dirt, gremlins, cats, etc. from getting into the rear interior quarter panel area.
what are people doing about that?
my plan atm is to close off the holes by riveting an aluminum plate in each side and using clear windshield sealant around the plate. then i'll just run the wiring to the led's through a grommet in the plate.
any thoughts on this?

 

[yossarian19]

Sounds like a plan to me. I don't see any troubles there.
If you don't feed your gremlins after midnight, though, they usually won't get all crazy-eyed and seek refuge in the Jeep. Just a thought.
Then again... cats. You really can't tame a cat.

 

[Hellbent]

our condo complex has small children too; I don't need them crawling up behind my tail lights either.
I've got some random thin aluminum plate at work. I'll cut up a couple oval pieces and pop rivet them over the holes, seal them up and call it done.
I'm guessing most people probably just leave them open, but being a DD, I'd like to keep the random crap out.

 

[VAhasnoWAVES]

our condo complex has small children too; I don't need them crawling up behind my tail lights either.

 

[Hellbent]

small children are sneaky.....like carnies. :eeks1:

 

[Anak]

You got that right. I have three of the varmints underfoot and they are nothing but trouble.

And if they didn't find their way in you can bet a rodent would.

 

[yossarian19]

Carnies are tough to keep out. Small gaps, especially around the head / tail lights will help. What I'll usually do to guard against them, though, is leave boiled cabbage and cotton candy on a picnic table *near* the jeep, but never leave cabbage *in* the jeep.