# FIAT 500, Audison, Alpine, JL, & Zapco



## JP Fabrication (Feb 20, 2008)

Here is my long time friend's new Fiat 500 she recently purchased. She was happy with the factory headunit with the Bluetooth but the rest of the system needed to go.
I did this install over a four month period when I had free time. 

Audison Bit Ten
JLHD 900/5
Zapco RH-16.2 6.5" Reference-active
ALPINE SWR-1042D



















The bass control knob was mounted to the left of the steering wheel.


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## JP Fabrication (Feb 20, 2008)

Aiming tweeters



















Grill cloth stretched, resined, smoothed out with Rage Gold




























Sent out to get wrapped and stitched




























Some deadening was added.
Milkshake mixture of resin, Marglass and Rage Gold poured into the tweeter pod.
Wired up.


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## JP Fabrication (Feb 20, 2008)

The door skin, door panel, and door card received a deadening.




























4G ran through right side cowl.


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## JP Fabrication (Feb 20, 2008)

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The sub enclosure area tapped off and measured for .65cuft










Layed up to 1/4" of mat










Cured and trimmed to desired shape.



















Flush mount speaker ring attached and felt stretched



















Resined, layed up with mat, and a coat of Marglass










Cleaning up the edges


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## JP Fabrication (Feb 20, 2008)

Smoothed out with Rage Gold, mixture of Marglass and resin coated entire inside of enclosure along with a layer of deadening.










A grill was made with breathable carpet



















The rear parcel shlef was vented and wrapped with grill cloth




























The JLHD 900/5 and the Bit Ten were mounted under the passenger seat


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## JP Fabrication (Feb 20, 2008)

I also made her a stealth cover incase she ever wanted to enter the rookie class to see how the system does.


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## JP Fabrication (Feb 20, 2008)

Quarter panels, roof, and trunk all received deadening.



















We also had the headliner and visors wrapped in black suede



















After I was done with the install I took it to The SoundMan in Santa Clarita were Doug and Rafa took care of an input issue and then tuned the Bit Ten.


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## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

VERY nice work! Lots of attention to detail here.


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## DLO13 (Oct 24, 2010)

love the clean build!

What did you think of the Soundman guys?


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

Nice n clean!!!!!!!!!!


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## jab4au (May 31, 2010)

Very clean install!!! Well played, sir.... Well played.


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## 2wheelie (Jul 30, 2009)

Clean install bud. I especially like all the detail work.


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## metanium (Feb 2, 2007)

I saw your tuning getting done on this week's episode of Amplified. Very nice!


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## BakedCookies (Sep 6, 2011)

wow, very nice install. Love the attention to detail.


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## RoyalBlue08 (Mar 28, 2012)

wow incredible work!


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## m0sdef (Nov 16, 2010)

Sweet build! Nice and stealthy amp rack


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## raresvintea (Sep 17, 2010)

Nice install! i have a question... The cloth that you put on the grille of subwofer isn't too thick? I mean you don't lost too much sound, bass?


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## strong*I*bumpin (Oct 3, 2005)

Wow,really nice fab work.


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## JP Fabrication (Feb 20, 2008)

Thanks guys. I appreciate it.


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## JP Fabrication (Feb 20, 2008)

DLO13 said:


> love the clean build!
> 
> What did you think of the Soundman guys?


Doug, Jordan, Rafa, and Jonny are all great guys. This was my third visit to the shop. Doug was very cool going through the complete Bit Ten tuning procedure with me.

Because of SoundMan's "Amplified" show with their iPad installs they inspired me to do one also. They have it dialed in with all you need to make the install easier.

My first iPad install:

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...ery/115902-ipad-2-into-international-mxt.html


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## JP Fabrication (Feb 20, 2008)

raresvintea said:


> Nice install! i have a question... The cloth that you put on the grille of subwofer isn't too thick? I mean you don't lost too much sound, bass?


I couldn't tell a difference with it on or off.

Master Bing does it that way. I don't question anything he does


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## Bumpin' Goalie (Nov 27, 2009)

Fun little car. crnacnac, you've a PM.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

crnacnac said:


> I couldn't tell a difference with it on or off.
> 
> Master Bing does it that way. I don't question anything he does


oh good lord...and i got it from master...ummm someone, i forgot a long time ago...

someone told me that if you can blow a candle out through a material, its fine to use as a subwoofer grille.

and i tested it out shortly after on a sub, couldnt tell a differnce, and that was that


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## Khymera-B (Oct 6, 2009)

My girl would love this car especially with the install


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## BakedCookies (Sep 6, 2011)

crnacnac said:


> I couldn't tell a difference with it on or off.
> 
> Master Bing does it that way. I don't question anything he does


I thought this looked like a Bing inspired install! :laugh:


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

looks fantastic by the way, only one piece of advice...take a heatgun and fuzz out the subbox, so there isnt much stray strands...it will also make it more durable and match the oem texture a lil better. just watch it so you dont melt it


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## JP Fabrication (Feb 20, 2008)

Thanks Bing. Will do. It is a bit too furry.


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## metalball (Sep 8, 2010)

Love the simplicity and classiness for your amp / bit ten cover under the passenger's seat... Might have to use something similar in the sunfire! ;-)


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## n_olympios (Oct 23, 2008)

Now this is how all power cables should enter the cabin. Kudos for choosing such a nice grommet. 

Oh, and for the rest of it as well.


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## jpeezy (Feb 5, 2012)

Really nice work,especially for such a small car!katskin vinyl would've wrapped around that tweeter.too bad u r in Cali I would've helped you wrap that,but really nice sewn seam though.nice job, does it sound as good as it looks?


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## JP Fabrication (Feb 20, 2008)

jpeezy said:


> Really nice work,especially for such a small car!katskin vinyl would've wrapped around that tweeter.too bad u r in Cali I would've helped you wrap that,but really nice sewn seam though.nice job, does it sound as good as it looks?


Thanks for the info. I live 12 miles from Katzskin. I will check it out.
It does sound as good as it looks.


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## nfrazier (Apr 14, 2011)

Looks familiar  looks great man it came out nice and clean.


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## FLYONWALL9 (Nov 8, 2009)

This is a GREAT install!!!!


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## Dimitris (Jan 5, 2012)

Great work and skills.Always following your posts.They 're trully educating and in high level of detailng.BTW have you ever tried installing an Ipad in a VW mkv?


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## tr0y_audi0 (Feb 13, 2007)

crnacnac said:


> 4G ran through right side cowl.


Got an under dash shot?
You get the shift knob from 500Madness?
looks good btw.


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## JP Fabrication (Feb 20, 2008)

Not sure where she got the shift knob from.

No under dash shot. I removed the glove box and an ECU to gain acces to run the 4g. I drilled from inside.


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## bigaudiofanatic (Mar 1, 2009)

Great build man, a few of your ideas I used in the fiat build I am working on.


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## Nathan_h (Aug 16, 2011)

Great read. So glad to see the head unit preserved.


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## JP Fabrication (Feb 20, 2008)

Thanks. That was a fun install.


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## stylngle2003 (Nov 2, 2012)

I love the box for the HD and Bit Ten under the seat. Very cool.


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## PsyCLown (May 17, 2013)

Very nice and neat build, it has given me a few small ideas for when I get mine going.


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## Nathan_h (Aug 16, 2011)

Are you using the bit ten to eq? I'm wondering whether the output from the oem head unit is flat or requires massaging before sending it to a real amp


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## JP Fabrication (Feb 20, 2008)

Doug at Soundman did the tuning for me. Pretty sure it was far from flat.


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## Nathan_h (Aug 16, 2011)

JP Fabrication said:


> Doug at Soundman did the tuning for me. Pretty sure it was far from flat.


Thanks for the info. I guess I am not surprised. A lot of OEM head units have built in hard coded EQ to compensation for poor OEM speaker response.

Guess I might been to consider the MS-8 route or something similar, to improve the signal before anything else!


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