Any one get rid of thier cowl vent?

I was just curious if anyone has welded their cowl vent shut. Maybe list the pros and cons. It seems to me that they just gather leaves and small sticks and let water in. Please post your opinion.
I bought my second dart and I’m so pissed I forgot to check for them. They did a great job shaving them but I want those nut blowers/fun cubbies. They shaved the hood turn signals too! Pretty sure they just filled the plenum, I can’t tell because it’s nice. Any ideas what I could do to replumb those vents, maybe keeping the shaved wiper bay? Was even thinking of good old Venturi and hiding some conical intakes (with bug screens) behind the grill like a ram box sort of setup/ I’ll take anyone’s doors/vent boxes for a 69 and happy to do a post mortem Pictorial once the bugs are worked out (or screened/filtered)