Matthew Downes Build

Kit Ordered :		Build Started:	July 1999
Chassis Arrived:	July 1999	Finished:	August 2003
Build Time Elapsed:		Time Expended:

April 2003
SVA and registration to go, some photos of car before the SVA have been added to the bottom of this page

October 2001

Body on, engine/gearbox in. Working through, exhaust, sump & oil pump mods, wheels/tyres, and finishing off the bodywork for painting. Chopped some fancy Abarth scorpion side vents. Should look OK with a mesh behind. It's now got Peter's V8 bonnet bulge as well.

Still can't decide on the colour, Choice of three (or so), booked in for painting early Nov. Engine running for Xmas then !

I decided to swap the Zetec for a semi-race Fiat 2.0ltr Twin Cam, which I know quite a lot about, having had plenty of Fiats & Lancias in the past. Fiat lump now mod'd for unleaded, so should provide similar go for half the price of the Zetec parts.

I collected the chassis kit from SSC at Woking in July 99 and built up the rolling chassis in that summer/autumn.

Then stupidly I left the nest & bought a house of my own, blowing most of the Stylus budget in the process. So there it sat for a year under a tarpaulin slowly being absorbed into the landscape.
A visit to a west country show last autumn brought inspiration, and the body was finally ordered in early 2001. The pictures show my car as it was in Feb/Mar 2001 about a week after collecting the bodywork from Lasham.

As you can see, fitting the inner body showed that I had the wrong master cylinder.
After a quick chat with Pete at SSC, I got it sorted with Camberley Auto Factors who had the right one on the shelf. That's still a bloody great hole in the bulkhead which needs fixing !

The main body tub went on without too much hassle.
I had some fun with the alignment, it never seems to line up properly, but I guess in the end you've just got to go for it. I'm pretty happy with the result. The car now sits on 13" RS 4 spokes (RS2000) with Yoko rubber and it still "looks" right.

After evicting the Robin Hood (Yuck !!!) from the garage I've managed to get a proper home to do the work. It's doors, bonnet, boot & lights time at the moment. I've being playing with the doors for a while, then moving on to something else when it starts to p**s me off ! The passenger side is OK now, but the drivers side, well what a bugger !

Eventually The car will feature 1.8 Zetec on Weber Carbs, Type 9 Gearbox, Std Escort MK2 brakes, Fiat Coupe rear lights, 356 style headlights and VW Lupo front indicators fitted above the front mould line a la Lotus Elise (for SVA).
It's chassis no 57 so current favourite is for a Heinz Beans Orange paintjob. That should wake a few people up.
What is it, by the way with Rover Tahiti blue, how many are going to be that colour ?? If you want an MGF why not buy one ? How's that for rebellion from the ranks !

Had a weekend off a couple of weeks back for Stoneleigh. Managed to meet a few people, and part with some cash.
Nice to see some finished cars on the SSC stand. Good effort from Jeremy & Paul to get their cars there.
See some of you in Mid-Wales later this summer !