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LITTLE BUT LARGE
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Available in the UK for the first time, the wide-cabbed FB4 combines big vehicle quality with light truck concept
• The name Canter has been used by Mitsubishi on its light trucks for many years, and vehicles carrying the name have been on sale in Europe for seven years. It is only with the launch of the latest version, however, that The Colt Car Company (the partMitsubishi-owned British importer) has decided to bring the Canter on to the UK market. Although much of the FB4 model is new, the concept of the vehicle is traceable back through the 790,000 Canters, in several styles, which have been built to date.
The Canter is, simply, a 3.5 tonne GVW, forward-control light truck with a tilting cab. For Britain, it will come in two wheelbases but with one mechanical specification — a four-cylinder, 2.35 litre diesel engine and a five-speed gearbox. Although its basic layout is as a chassis-cab, the Canter will only be sold here in bodied form initially, with a selection of bodies by Valle.
ENGINE
The Canter's engine is Mitsubishi's 4D55, a four-cylinder indirect injection diesel which is also used in the Shogun four-wheel-drive vehicle. In the Canter application, for Britah the 4D55 is only available in naturallyaspirated form, although it comes with a turbocharger in the Shogun.
Like Mitsubishi's mid-range four-cylindei petrol engines, the 41)55 is unusual in having Lanchester harmonic balancer shafts, driven from the crankshaft, to smooth out the outof-balance forces inherent in an in-line fourcylinder engine. A similar concept — but using a single balance shaft — was used in the old Ford V4 petrol engine which was fitted to first-generation Transits.
The 4D55 has a cast-iron cylinder block with dry liners and an aluminium alloy cylinder head. Its almost square cylinder dimensions (91.1mxn bore x 90.0mm stroke) give a displacement of 2, 346cc. With a compression ratio of 21.0:1, this gives an output of 48kW (64BHP) at the high speed of 4,200. The maximum torque of 140Nm (190th ft) comes in at x 2,200 rpm. Fuel is fed to the injectors by a VE rotary pump, and the valves are operated by a belt-driven overhead camshaft. There is a 45 amp, 12volt alternator.
TRANSMISSION
Power is taken from the engine via a singleplate hydraulically-operated clutch: the pedal mechanism incorporates a toggle O. spring which is intended to prevent excessive clutch wear if the driver rides the pedal, and also acts as a helper spring when the pedal is depressed.
The five-speed gearbox is fully synchronised, and is controlled by a floormounted lever which operates the selector: via a long linkage running from the front of the vehicle back past the engine. On both models, drive then passes down a two-plea propellor shaft with an intermediate bearing to the hypoid final drive, in both cases, the final drive ratio is a fairly low 6.166:1 to give less than 301(m/h/1,000rpm in the overdrive fifth gear.
CHASSIS
[he Canter has a straight ladder frame, of apered channel section: its outer width is POOmrn. It comes in two wheelbases, of 2.5 ind 3.35m, to give overall chassis lengths of ..57 and 5. 825m.
Suspension is by leaf springs all round: at he front there are two-leaf semi-eliptic prings of 1,200mm length. At the rear, the , 250mm three-leaf springs have single-leaf ielper springs of the same length. There are elescopic hydraulic dampers front and rear. Steering is by recirculating ball-and-nut, vith a ratio that varies from 26.6: at the itraight-ahead position to 30.5:1 at full ack. The steering column is adjustable for ioth tilt (by 50mm) and height (by 30mm). The Canter follows the present :onvention in having disc front brakes and Irurns at the rear. In this case, the discs are if 290mm diameter, and the drums are !79mrn in diameter, They are operated by lual-circuit hydraulics with vacuum issistance, and there is load-sensative iressure regulation in the rear drums to )revent wheel lockup when the vehicle is ightly laden. The 5JK x 16 wheels are shod vith 175R 16C radial-ply tyres.
CAB
Canter is built in Japan in two forms, the iarrow-cabbed FB3 and the wide-cabbed FB4. Only the latter, with three seats, will be imported into Britain. The cab is of allsteel monocoque construction, with a flushmounted windscreen. The cab side windows are unusual in being cut down into the doors at the front for extra kerbside visibility. When lowered, the door glass top edge lies flush with the taller, rear part of the sill, leaving the cutaway portion of the window sill occupied by glass.
The cab is unique in this weight category in being a tilting unit. It is counterbalanced by torsion bars, and can be raised to a maximum angle of 45°. The locking and release levers for the cab are all mounted at the rear of the structure on the left-hand side: the two release levers are interlocked so that there is no danger of one being left inadvertently open. There is a self-locking strut to support the cab in its raised postion.
Unusually, the master cylinders for brake and clutch operation are mounted rigidly on the chassis, with a flexible link system connecting them to their respective pedals. The Canter cab has quite a steeply-raked windscreen and the aerodynamic detail on the cab includes the fitting of aerofoil sections on the front corners to control air flow around the sides of the vehicle.
BODYWORK
Because of the limited number of vehicles which it will have for sale in the early days of the venture, Mitsubishi is only offering the Canter in bodied form. All the bodies available at this stage are built by the Dorset bodybuilder Vaile.
The simplest body is a dropside truck, which is available on the long and short wheelbases: there is also a tipper which comes only on the short-wheelbase model. There is a box van, with an aerodynamic front end, available on both wheelbases, and the two companies are considering introducing a Luton. There are obvious dificulties with the latter because of the tilt cab. All these Vaile bodies are framed in aluminium alloy.