NA Door panel repair

Anyone here repaired the vinyl door panel from a 1995 Miata? Here is mine (Driver's side):

1) http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_i...0010_large.jpg

2) http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_i...0011_large.jpg

I was thinking, why couldn't I just remove the vinyl (since it has to be replaced anyways, and bridge the missing chunk of beadboard/cardboard backing with some fiberglass and resin. After it dries, sand it to proper thickness, recover the whole panel with vinyl and be done with it?

Any experienced owners out there ever attempt this or something like it?

You can buy the board at home depot and use the old one as a template to make a new one. I've never done it on a Miata but it has worked on other cars. However, these door panels are pretty easy to find from a donor car. Somebody here probably has one. Since there are only two common colors it is not hard to match.

If I buy a new board, how would I attach the retaining clips to the new board? I suppose some type of apoxy would do, but is there a better way?

I'd watch Ebay and just get some replacement panels. ;)

Or maybe Wags has some available!

The junkyard is your friend, or try MadMerv...he may have some spare door panels being a Spec Miata guy.

I've got a couple of spares from a '95 M-Edition, but I dyed them black with vinyl paint. The door cards are in fair shape, and the tops are decent - no rips or tears, but I'll go look to confirm that. The tops have the built-in component tweeters.

trickyrix: That would be awesome, I am looking for black, so that would work. Can the M edition panels fit on my 1995 base model?

The only thing you'll have to do is drill a hole in the panel for the window winder. Otherwise they're a drop-in replacement. If you can make it down for the Wed Nite meet, let me know and I'll throw the panels in my trunk so you can have a look. And if I can find the little hole-saw bit I used to cut the window winder hole, I'll throw that in as well. At the very least, you can experiment on them and/or rob good parts to make a nice set of door panels.

BTW, I just double-checked and the tops are in good shape, although one has a mysterious stick-on "M-Edition" badge on it. The door carDs are also good, but the driver's door card is somewhat warped from water damaged. You don't notice it so much from the interior side, though.

trickyrix: Thank you for checking on those, those seem like they would work well. MadMerv replied back to me about some items that he has, let me get with him and if I cant find what I need I would love to buy those off your hands. Thank you again for checking on those!

If you need other parts that Merv doesn't have (which is almost impossible) try Mazda Heaven in Kennedale.