How to DIY flat door cards on your Mazda Miata / MX-5 NB!

As usually I was browsing for some parts for my Miata and came across the cool looking flat door cards for the NA and wondered if there were some flat door cards for the NB too. Sadly I didn’t find anything so I decided to make my own. And it’s not even that hard and you can be as creative as you want.

The reasons why I wanted these flat door cards were:
I like the classic old school look and because I’m a tall person I needed that extra leg room.

Here's a before and after!

The materials you need to do this are:
1,00m x 1,00m Plate (Wood or PVC)
a pair of old door cards (I didn’t used my original ones so I can always go back to stock)
1,00m x 1,00m wool mat
1,00m x 1,00m cloth, leather or whatever you want to cover your door in
cutting tools
wood stapler
spray adhesive
electric screwdriver and drill
wood screws
steel angles
pencil or marker
measuring tool
50cm belt
speaker covers

It took me about 4 hours for each side and about 90€ for all the materials including the original door cards.

I started by taking a 4mm wooden board, because it’s easyer to work with and is cheap. You can use PVC too. One door is about 100cm x 50cm so you need 1m x 1m material. I laid the door card over the wooden board and outlined it, marked the center of the speaker and the door handle. from the outline of the door i jumped in about 5mm so I don’t have clearance issues.

Than I took the original door card and cut off the upper part. I used the existing edge as oriantation and cut about 2cm underneath it. That piece I placed over my wooden plate and outlined that and left 2cm more material so I could attach the pieces together. Don’t forget to take out the plastic clips from the lower part, because you will need them.

When your board looks like this you can start cutting. Don’t forget to wear safety glasses and gloves and remember while cutting: better to little than too much. After you cut out the door card, place the upper door piece over the wood and screw it in with some wood screws. Now take off your original door card and remove the shown three door card brackets.

Now you put on the door card and test fit it. Take the plastic clips from before and put them in place. Add some glue onto them and press the wood against them. Also check if the door handle fits through the hole and mark the clearance issues. also mark the hole where the top of the existing handle would be. Also, take a piece of wood or PVC and hold it 90° to the gap on the door edge and mark it .Take off the door again and cut if it needs to be cut. Drill the hole for the handle and screw in the plastic clips for extra security. Cut the piece off for the gap, place it over the door panel and attach it to it with steel angles.

Now it comes the the creative part. Here you can use the material, color and design you want. First lay the door over a wool mat which will make your door card soft and looking a bit more comfortable. Outline the door and cut the wool along the outline. Spray some spray adhesive onto your door and attatch the wool to it. After that place the door on the chosen material. I chose a classic black cloth because I wanted an “all black” car. folt the material over the door, pull it tight and than staple it to the wood.

After a bit of stapling it was looking great and I was able to put the door card on but before that i had to screw the speaker covers in place and make the custom door handle. I chose the oldschool belt style, because its simple and suits the car. Now everything left is repeat the process on the other door and you done!

To cover the rough edge from the upper door part you can use a rubber edge cover, somehow I forgot to take a photo because I was too excited.

Thank you for reading this post! I hope I could help you making your own DIY flat coor cards for your NB and I would love to see your results! Be as creative as you want :)