Its the panel from door to tail light corner panel.
I want to know if anyone has attempted this themselves and has any helpful hints/feedback.
So far this is all the info I have;
I need to drill the spot welds off the upper outer side. What about inside the door frame and the bottom of the panel?
Remove the panel with a chisel (and /or grinder) between the inner and outer.
Clamp new panel in position and weld. Mig welder? What is the smallest amp mig up for the job?

Any extra info or comments very welcome. Cheers

If I remember correctly with mig welders u just slow down the speed off which the wire flows and that will allow u to mig very thin metal,i think that's wright but someone might correct me.

I've removed a couple of them in my time. What you have written is a good basic guide. You are right in thinking that you will also need to unpick it at the door pillar and along the bottom (including around the wheel arch).

What may help you is to get hold of your replacement quarter/s first and this will be a good reference at to where the panel starts and ends (e.g. the top of it will run behind the side vents etc.)

Get youself a proper spot weld drill bit from you local Autopaint store. These bits will basically drill a small circle around the spot weld and enable the panel to pull away from the weld, hopefully leaving the underlying metal in place...however from time to time you'll probably find it may drill a hole through both layers of metal (nothing that can't be welded up).

At times it is helpful to cut large sections of the old quarter panel out with an angle grinder and that way you can wiggle the sections near the spot welds to help them breakaway. CAUTION WITH THIS AS THERE ARE SOME THINGS LIKE THE FUEL EXPANSION TANK AND FUEL FILLER SURROUND THAT YOU DONT WANT TO CUT THROUGH IN THE PROCESS.

I found around the wheel arch it was best just to grind away at the metal with an angle grinder and pry sections off with a screwdriver or chisel.

As far as re-attaching the new one it was a matter of drilling holes along the edges of the new quarter panel (about every 70mm) and then plug welding with a MIG. You'd probably want a MIG of around 160 AMP or a little more. The other option these days is to use a panel adhesive and just glue them on. Oh, I also used a bead of Sikaflex urethane sealer in between the plug welds.

GOOD LUCK

Music to my ears!

thanks cadet1200

160 amps is to high id be running between 50 and 80,u will blow holes in the panel.As I said slow down the speed off the wire and im pretty sure it will do down to 1mm sheet metal also its the opposite to stick welding where u drag it from left to right if your right handed where mig if right handed u go from right to left as the gases that are connected to the mig dispurse the other gases also to do efficient spot welds u start in the centre and do a circle spiral,if that makes sense.I have a cert 3 in welding but got that over ten yrs ago now and havent welded in a long time.

Cadet1200 is right on the 160amp welder.mcdat you won't weld on 160 but the mig needs to have some power.i don't think he was meaning to actually weld on 160amps

Yep slow wire but dont move your weld too sliw. It will burn through that thin datsun metal.
Ive got a gas mig 200amp and I cant weld great but they are strong. I upped it to about 90amp and slowed wire speed. It helped get a strong weld. You may want to dpot weld it in place and then stich it in. Maybe seam weld some engine bay while you at it.
Practice on some old guard first to get the settings. In a tafe course I did I prefered oxy on datsun guards I brought in.
My fave toy is the plasma cutter though. So much so I bought an old 2nd hand one. Great toy.

Yeah thanks Datrotor that's exactly what I meant, the MIG power rating....not that you had to crank it up that high.

Cheers for the valuable info/knowledge. I'll take some time off work soon and give it a crack.