Bolstering Door Panels
 

Has anyone tried fiberglassing the back sides of the stock door panels to add strength and rigidity? Is there any reason I would NOT want to do this? I'm about to tear into these in an attempt to add some structure but I'm just curious if anyone else has been down this road before and if they had any words of caution. Ideally, I'm wanting to yield an OEM look with a quality feel, something that's severely lacking from the factory.

A door should protect me from elements outside the car that would otherwise annoy or kill me. If the door itself is so damn annoying it makes me want to kill myself then it's defeated it's own purpose. Thus, adding strength to the door panels is only part of my plan. I'm going to use a combination of thin self adhesive foam and microsuede to quiet the creaky noises. New plastic door rivets are going in too. Hoping to end up with a much nicer feel.

Eh, you really only need to strengthen around the door cups and PS pull handle. Most of the time the "bridge" around the DS door cup breaks; I replaced my broken crew lands with studs and nuts and then epoxied the bring in place. The thing has been solid as a rock.

See this post: https://www.rx7club.com/build-threads-292/ugly-fd-my-94-ssm-1109294/#post12287133

I like the idea of the threaded rods. Right now my attachment points appear to be in tact so I might leave them as is. I'm finding the majority of the noise is when the plastic rubs/moves along the door panel area. I'm thinking that some microsuede between the two will be all that's needed to stop that creaking noise.

Mazda originally had some sort of anti-squeak low friction tape all along the edges of the plastics but that falls off and disintegrates over time.

I got the aluminum door pull cups from Rotary 13b1 -

93-95 RX-7 FD3S INTERIOR DOOR PULL HANDLES: Rotary13B1.com

That makes a HUGE difference in the door. When you squeeze that cup to close it it's rock solid instead of spongy and floppy. Buddy of mine got them and the first time I grabbed them on his door panel I was blown away. the only downside is they aren't easy to remove to pull the door panel but it IS possible, just did it last weekend.

Just really wish Mazda would have done a better job on the interior plastics. It's not easy to fix any of that stuff.

Dale

I've been eyeing those aluminum cups too. Glad to hear they are a nice addition. How does the screw hole cover work for that? Is that part aluminum too? I can see how they'd be near impossible to get out. I'm hoping to get my door panels (and speakers) setup the way I want them and THEN install those aluminum cups. That way I hopefully won't have to take the door apart for a while.

The OEM screw cap covers pop right in to the aluminum cups. They fit PERFECTLY too. They do not come with the covers or anything, you just get the cups that you see in the picture.

I like using Plast-Aid for rebuilding interior plastics, I know I have some info about it on the forum. Going to be using it myself VERY soon on my instrument cluster surround.

Dale

No experience with the aluminum cups, but FWIW I replaced my old 92/93 OEM driver’s side cup with a NEW OEM cup after the original cracked at the screw hole. I think there was a design change because new one was a lot firmer/stiffer. It didn’t have that ground strap on it either. I should’ve taken a pic.

I put just a thin coat of silicone caulk in a few places where I thought the plastic was squeaking against another surface.. Helped a lot.