Strange (FACTORY) Holes in Trunk Lid

The extra gasket on the lid is soft seal gasket I added to seal the large gap that was between the lid and the body seal. By large I mean about 1/8" -3/16". After chasing this exhaust leak for a year I finally got really mad and climbed into the trunk/package area and had a friend shine a bright light along the outside trunk seal area. With the trunk closed and locked (and me inside) I saw massive amounts of light coming through mostly on either side of the bottom but also along the part that runs up around the tail light area of the seal (not the tail light seal). I also saw plenty of light coming through the two FACTORY holes!!! I tried different foam thicknesses of material until I figured out what thickness was required to make it seal. The round hollow soft seal you see in the pic was perfect for making the seal complete. I know it doesn't belong there but all the trunk to body lines are really good and adjusting the lid would mess up all the body lines (gap between trunk and body). I know that your supposed to adjust the trunk hinges to make the seal correct but it would really mess up my body lines (trunk to body gap). I will also try to adjust the idle screws to see if I can lean it out a little. This car is a survivor, no rust anywhere, no body damage, no wrecks, no dents and all original (except for some mods I have made (59,000 original miles). I love driving the car but the exhaust fumes took all the fun out of driving around. I have stopped 95-98 percent of the leaks so I'm simply going for perfection. If I leave the holes open I really don't know if it will let exhaust into the car but I would think that some exhaust has to enter as the pressure inside a car is always less than the pressure outside the car when you're going down the highway...that's why you need a good trunk and tail light seal. Even the bumper bolts seem to have large gaskets on then to keep the exhaust from being sucked into the car.

treblig