Hi all,
Well it's been a satisfying day of working on my project Uno, I hit upon an idea for sound deadening of the door skins on a shoestring budget. Normally you would do what FIAT did to the 'SL' models, and buy self-adhesive bitumen sheet (typically from car stereo shops) to stick to the inside of the door skins. Nice, but probably almost ten quid a sheet, which may not be a lot of money in England but trust me, it's too much here - almost a week's groceries

Incidentally (and off-topic) I have used this sheeting in my Alfa to seal off all 'holes' in the door metalwork prior to installing the door trim, which creates an 'infinite baffle' for the speaker and greatly improved the sound.

Right, so in the past I've plastered on underbody coating thickly as a cheap sound deadener - but what is even cheaper is to apply a thin coat of the underbody coating (1L tin costs equivalent of 5 pounds, sufficient for all four doors) and then cut some flooring vinyl into rectangles (offcuts free from a dumpster outside a carpet warehouse) to stick in place onto the black goo. See the first picture.

The second picture (taken several hours later) shows the unorthodox location I chose for the door speakers. The door cards (from another red Uno 45 5-dr) had no speaker holes, in fact they were truly pristine, with all clips in place and waterproofing sheet AS WELL as black vinyl on back of card, and no warping... hey any of you with Mk1 Unos will know how rare that is...

The convention is to cut a hole near the bottom, and attach the speaker to the door card itself. Then screw on the door pocket (screws from the back of the door card) and finally clip onto door. This is not the best because the speaker has only a flimsy mounting, particularly if the door cards are in 'average' condition (unlike mine!)

If you're keen, you can move the speaker closer to the edge of the door card to get some of the screws into the metal, but you still have the problem of the door pocket getting in the way when you try to put the speaker screws in after fitting door card to door.

Soooo... here are the benefits of my installation:
- 4" speaker fits neatly into rectangular slot in door structure (as shown by white ellipse in first pic) with no cutting into the sheetmetal
- All four screws go into the metal so no need for those 'spire nuts', just cut hole in panel with jigsaw, fit panel to door, drill four holes, and screw in
- Sound imaging is improved with speakers further forward and raised (IMHO at least, maybe Tipo drivers will agree)

Because the speakers are mounted extremely solidly, the improvement in sound quality amazed me. These speakers are Jensen-branded and cost equivalent of just 5 pounds (Jensen went bust and most of the products are really poor quality, see the third pic for a closeup of the CD Tuner, with non-motorised CD transport, bought new for 35 pounds-equivalent).

Anyway, I can feel the bass through the floor, which really surprised me, and of course the doors sound so much better when you close them - no tinny clang.

As for when the next owner wants to fit bigger speakers - tough Don'tcha hate previous-owners like me?

-Alex

have u got any pics of ur final install ive jus had a 600w 10" sub n a 350w sub for £40

ill get sum pics n put it on soon wats ur final luk like

Hi Alex

Can you wind the windows up then?

I recently stuck some JBL's behind the mounts on dash, and binned the nasty standard tin tops. They are not to good with bass (a lot better), but loads of improvement in mid and top bands. I just need to filter off below about 120 Hz in the front, and let the back do the work. Below 120Hz sound said to be non-directional, so you won’t notice (apart from drivers surviving longer). I have been using normal half decent house speakers (JPW mini monitors) with no further amp, and don't sound too bad with new cheep Pioneer CD player. I now have 2 Panasonic tape players with no faceplates (lost 2 till now). They were much better as no skippy CD.

- Just need to put rear speakers back having replaced hatch seal and the patched rust that had creped from under the seal, behind the light cluster and bumper, under the filler cap, round to the arch and inside the spare wheel housing. Glad the rust was 99% out of site as the Hammerite paint don’t quite match.

My sub lives in my house since I moved to Manchester - too risky in car all the time. I have fitted a quick release (kettle plugs with earth, battery and remote) and the 2 normal RCA connectors to head unit.

Ever since my jensen sub was nicked from my first Uno, the replacement (better) ones have never sounded the same. More power, but prob. lower driver efficiency or bad matching to amps.

Burbo that sounds far too cheep! You would pay £40 for a cheep new 10” driver alone (if you were lucky) – wonder where you got em’ from, or was the fitting price only???

Louie Bee.

Hi Again,

Top tip for the sound proofing Alex!!!

I’ve just done my bit with the old tin worm on the drivers’ door around the window and the bottom (sorry no pictures). I didn’t think it could wait with all the grit and coldness around at the moment.

I ended up totally dismantling the whole door (apart from the skins) and drilling new drain holes where they should be (lowest points). I fitted some lino (as above) and wow - what a difference! No more clang/ring when I close the door - its well worth the effort!

Unfortunately I painted over my hinge alignment markings. Dose anyone know of an easy way of re align the door (3 door model)?

My friend has just donated me some JVC 6x9” and a CD head unit – Nice one. He’d retrieved them from his Escort after the police rammed it and 2 drunken car thieves off the road one weekend. He’s just got an MR2 T bar thing, so he doesn’t need them now.

I wonder if the 6x9s will sit in the doors. If they do, I think Ill also re-cover them. You’ve got to keep things hidden around here (where my friend’s car was taken from). Should I sell the car, there will be no obvious traces of missing 6x9s.

Hopefully the new head unit will have some bass roll off for the front channel.

Thanks again Alex!!!
Regards,
Louie Bee.

Louie,
Cheers for that, your message made me smile.
Yeah, why not try for 6x9s in the doors? Yes, my windows do go down all the way, but yours won't

-Alex

Hi All,

I've just got the last bit of glass out or the new drivers. The pesky Police rammed the Escort from the back with some bar attachment thingy and put the rear windscreen through. I’m now sink testing them with Drum N Bass off the old 1210s. If that nasty buzzing doesn’t return tonight they’ll be worth fitting.

I might cut some boards and fit 6x9s where your (spare car’s) rear doors are (GS), should the front windows not go down… I have done away with the tidy tray, so with a lot of luck… we’ll see?

Maybe Ill fit a port and change the Infinite baffle to a Bass reflex for higher efficiency. It gets a bit complicated working out the best port site and dimensions. If the bass nearly catches up with the mid and top (which it will) with these unboxed boxed babies Ill be happy. TBH the dash is not the best location for the JBLs’, or anything. They might end up in the back.

The door now closes mint now. I only rotated the striker’s rubber sleeve to a less worn bit.

The head unit don’t have a pop-off front, it’s too old to bother fitting.

Ill keep you updated…

Louie Bee.

Hey all.

i'm new here and this thread is most suitable for my guestion i think. So the thing is that i want to install some speakers in the front doors in my uno but i dont know how to get the skin off. I have removed the plastic pins behind the skin and screwed off the handle but that thing for opening the door and to move window are giving me a hard time :bang:

Hi ToMi`welcome to the forum

The door handle – pull the lever to open position, and slide the retaining clip backwards.

A horseshoe shaped clip holds on the window winder – have the winder pointing downwards, push the round back cover downwards too and you will see the top of the clip. – slip a blunt knife between the gap from the bottom and remove upwards – be careful – the clip may ping out.

Also see https://www.fiatforum.com/showthread.php?t=7835 thread - page 12.5 and 12.6

Kind Regards,

Excellent answer Louie! Of course we expected nothing less

Welcome to the forum ToMi`, yeah, the door release handle surround (called the 'escutcheon', now there's a word you don't hear every day) slides towards the back of the door to unclip. Easy when you know how.

Be careful with the white plastic pins (press-studs) - they tend to tear out of the door card. It helps to use a very long screwdriver to pry them out, rather than pulling on the card. When you refit the card, make sure all the pins are in the card (rather than stuck in the door!) and use some hot-melt glue if necessary to hold them in the card.

Do you currently have speakers mounted in the doors? If so, you should probably try to stiffen up the mounting a little by having two of the screws going into the metal of the door. 6.5" speakers fit OK near the bottom of the door and give you the best sound (of course), but it is hard to fit them with the door pocket in place, unless you drill some holes right through the door pocket to give access to the screws...

But if you don't have speakers already, and don't want to spend too much, then the 4" speakers, where I suggested, will be a tidy install. Decisions decisions!

-Alex

AlexGS, great ideas there and informing guide. Thanks.

Would this be the same for the Mk2? Same door design and door card mounts?
I'm assuming all is the same, and toying with the idea of 6.5" speakers. Should give better sound. The idea being is to just leave the pockets off. What do you think?

I think I'll mount tweaters on either corner of the dash, just buy the wing mirror adjuster. I think Luke has them in the same area (photos in his gallery).

Also, what would be the best way to route the speaker cable? I'm hoping you don't say drill a hole on the side by the hinge
I don't have electric anything, so there's no existing gromet etc.

Hello ts86,

Thanks for the comments! As far as I'm aware, the Mk2 doors are the same. There won't be space for the 6.5" speakers where I suggested (towards the top-front of the door card) so you'll have to leave the pockets off and get the speaker screws into the metalwork of the door in the bottom-front corner.

There should be a square hole blanked by a plastic plug in the door frame - are you sure there isn't? Even the basiest-of-the-base models had that, in the Mk1 range. It is perfectly possible to make a nice round hole with a pair of sharp scissors - just use one of the blades as a 'tapered reamer' tool. Then use some corrugated tubing (available from an auto electrical store) with the tubing fitted tightly to one of the plastic plugs and being a loose sliding fit in the other plug.

If you have some metalworking skills, you might like to consider making up a steel frame to stiffen-up the speaker mounting - it will make a difference.

Thanks,
-Alex

6.5" speakers fit OK near the bottom of the door and give you the best sound (of course), but it is hard to fit them with the door pocket in place, unless you drill some holes right through the door pocket to give access to the screws...

Click to expand...

Yeah, the bottom front is where I meant.
I don't think they're the same doors though. The attached photo is what mine looks like - the window winder is in a different place. The actual metal work behind the door card might be similar, but I couldn't check as it started raining.

Ah, yes, I see the square rubber plug. I was looking for a groment before - never mind! That's actually quite a neat place to put it - all hidden behind carpet and upper (vertical) sill plate.

I don't have any previous metalwork experience, so I wouldn't know where to start. I figured I would probably need to strength something with a speaker install in the doors, so plan was to use plywood or MDF or similar thin-ish sheets of wood. Maybe speaker rings etc. - Can't think yet though until I pull off the door card.

In a way, I guess, it would be easy to get carried away - 4" at the top, 6.5" at the bottom, maybe tweater in the arm rest... Hey, any experience of the rear door cards on a 3door Uno?