If you ever pull that panel off, you may find Jimmy Hoffa. Well, maybe not, but wear nitryl gloves and a dust mask because there may be rodent stuff in there and it can be bad for your health. It's doubtful there's enough to cause this to overflow with water but debris will rot out the tulip panel by holding moisture inside. Overflow would be lower down on the panel....

Getting this kick panel loose is an unpleasant job and it's not coming out without dropping the e-brake assembly. No way, I tried for like an hour. And dropping the e-brake is easy if the cable's disconnected but not so quick on an assembled car. I had the dash pad off already too and that made it go faster. I don't recall if that would be needed.

Water drains from the cowl down past the sheet metal panel that he kick panel is bolted to. I've attached a photo where the kick panel attaches. The plastic kick panel has a snorkle that protrudes past this eliptical hole. It is sealed with dum-dum against the sheet metal panel. If the dum-dum fails, you can get water inside. If you have a significant amount of water inside, this is a likely suspect.

If you only have water at that mounting screw, try as someone earlier remarked and replace the screw with some sealant on it. Use an auto sealant not bathtub caulk or silicon RTV. Those products contain acetic acid which accelerates rusting.

If it's coming out of the hole because the dum dum failed, you'll have to take this apart to reseal it. Electrical supplies and some home stores have this sealer. It's used to seal where pipes or wiring enters through walls. Good luck with this jobs. I think the car dealers used to prefer mechanical trouble to leaks. Leaks can be a bear to fix.


Here's the metal panel just the other side of the kick panel



Here's a view of the Snorkle Jim and Amervo described. It accepts fresh air from beyond where water passes by. You can see the dum-dum remaining on the part. They used plenty of it and it dries out. Be careful with the kick panel, especially the snorkel. The rim is larger than the hole it passes through and it's going to be brittle after all these years. If you crack it, it will leak forever. You can see by the length of the snorkle and then look at the clearance from the e-brake to the panel that as Amervo says, dropping the kickpanel with the e-brake in place is unlikely to go smoothly...