Wide Range on Basic Chassis is the Japanese Way
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IN the first two articles of this series I devoted myself to general impressions of Japan. In this article, and the next, I will deal with the ranges of vehicles produced by the major manufacturers.. This week, the manufacturers ". on show" will be Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Nissan Diesel Co. Ltd., Daihatsu Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, and Komatsu Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
First of all, Nissan Motors, who (with their wholly-owned subsidiary, Nissan Diesel) are the second largest producer in terms of vehicles made, regardless of size. In round terms, Nissan Diesel produce all the Nissan Group dieselengined goods vehicles above 6 tons payload and most of the Group's buses. Nissan Motors—whose products I shall examine first—make the lighter goods vehicles, specialpurpose vehicles (such as fire appliances), small buses, the Nissan Patrol (a "Land-Rover type " of vehicle). and Datsun pick-ups.
Nissan's share of the country's total commercial vehicle production is more than 23 per cent. Their share n'ii total exports is almost 42 per cent. The table (right) shows production of main models in April last (discrepancies in totals
are accounted for by sales from stock produced in previous months).
In the first half of their last financial year Nissan (who began production 32 years ago) sold 88,905 commercial vehicles of all kinds, of which 16,768 went for export. Australia, South Africa, Thailand, South-east Asia, America and the Middle East are their main markets. Exports in c.k.d. form account for about 45 per cent of the whole. One of their more notable sales in recent months was a dozen buses to South Africa.
The Nissan range is mainly bread-and-butter stuff primarily designed to roll off the production line as fast as the sales department can dispose of them. The bonneted petrol-engined 6-tonner is the biggest truck in their range. It uses a 4-litre, 145 b.h.p. engine which develops 235 lb. ft. at 2,000 r.p.m. The same vehicle is sold as a 5-tonner, and it also appears in the Nissan Diesel range as a 6-tonner with the UD3 two-stroke diesel engine. Yet more versatility! It also forms the basis of the Nissan Diesel U690 and UG690 forward-control buses carrying, in different layouts, between 49 and 57 passengers.
Although I did not drive one of these vehicles, I did examine one fairly closely. The switches and instruments are conveniently situated in a nacelle behind the steering column. The three-man, p.v.c. covered bench seat was comfortable but had too little adjustment—and I did not have enough knee room. (I'm only 5 ft. 9 in. tall!) A divided wrap-round windscreen gives adequate visibility. The vehicle has dual sealed-beam headlights.
I disliked the long gear-change lever, which had a very floppy action. , The single-pull handbrake lever was a trifle difficult to reach.
The overall length (with drop-side body) is 24 ft.
and the width 7 ft. 5i in. Body length is 14 ft. 11 in. and unladen weight (with petrol engine) is a little short of 4 tons. Top speed is 59 m.p.h.
The most interesting vehicle in the Nissan range is the Caball 2-tonner, which comes in both petrol and diesel versions. The petrol engine used is a 1,883 c.c. unit of 85 mm. bore and 83 mm. stroke. producing 92 b.h.p. at 5,000 r.p.m. and 117 lb. ft. torque at 3,600 r.p.m. With all-steel truck body the vehicle weighs a little under I tons dry.
In its diesel version the same vehicle weighs an extra 146 lb. The engine is a 4-cylinder, water-cooled 2,164 c.c. unit with bore of 83 mm. and stroke of 100 mm. It produces 62 b.h.p. and 3,600 r.p.m. and peak torque of 106 lb. ft. is reached at 1,800 r.p.m. Top speed with a diesel engine is 53 m.p.h., compared with 69 m.p.h. for the petrol version.
As with the basic 6-tonner, Nissan put the Caball to many uses. (They use tractive unit versions in their own fleet for 5-car transporter semi-trailers.) Under the model name Echo. it appears as a small bus. Petroland dieselengined versions are obtainable as 14-seaters (with the Caball front end) and in a chassis-only version it is used in six different Echo models ranging from 17 to 24 seats.
Nissan also produce a normal-control, 2-ton pick-up with the same two engines, these being known as the Junior and the Junior Diesel. They weigh some 40 lb. less than the equivalent Caball model and have slightly smaller box dimensions. The significant difference between them is increased platform area on the forward-control Caball. The Junior also costs less (about £735 in diesel form, compared with £775 for the equivalent Cabal!).
Also produced by Nissan is the Datsun range of light pick-ups and panel vans, the newest being the 1300, a picture of which accompanied last week's article. These Datsuns are private car derivatives and consequently are only petrol-engined. The 1300 is a 1-tonner. There are also the 320 models, which range between 6 and 10 cwt. carrying capacities, in pick-up and van forms.
(I should, perhaps, here explain that in Japan " vans are what we would term estate cars; there are few small vans as we know them in Britain.) A quick examination of a Datsun 1300 showed nothing unfavourable. in fact, as one would expect, it looked like a well-finished private car in the cab. But, again, black marks for inadequate leg room. White marks for a very workable platform height of a shade over 2 ft. 3 in. For military use, Nissan produces a petrol-engined 4 X 4 11-tonner called the Carrier. 1 would guess that the design is not substantially different from 1941-45 days.
The Nissan Patrol is a 4 X 4 vehicle which sells well (but not so well as its main competitor, the Toyota Land Cruiser). It has all the body versatility of these "Laud-Rover type" vehicles and is powered by a 3,956 c.c. petrol engine which develops 145 b.h.p. at 3,800 r.p.m. Torque peaks of 235 lb. ft. is reached at 2.000 r.p.m. Basic transmission is three-speed (synchromesh on on second and top) with a two-speed transfer box giving a high and low gear range. It has an all-welded, box-type frame.
A short-wheelbase version of a Patrol was the first Japanese vehicle I saw on my trip—pulling two 30passenger trailers at Beirut Airport, Nissan Diesel officially opened their new factory, at Zama, while Iwas in Japan, and I was invited to the opening. The 48-acre factory will eventually produce virtually all the Nissan and Nissan Diesel range on two lines. The total site area of this very impressive factory is 138 acres, and it will employ more than 2.000 people. Initial capacity will be 12,000 vehicles a. month, rising to 20,000, of which one-third will be heavy trucks and twothirds small vehicles from 2-tormers downwards.
As with practically all Japanese automobile production factories it has its own foundry, machine shop, press shop and so on. Largest capacity press is a 4,000-ton machine..
I also visited Nissan Diesel's existing factory at Ageo, meeting their engineers and director Masco Sedcf, Mr. Sedei told me that the main range of diesels were twostrokes based on a 1935 Krupp direct-injection design. There are three basic in-line two-cycle engines at the moment (using three-, fourand six-cylinder configurations), a V8 and a small, high-speed four-stroke, In addition, a live-cylinder two-stroke is due to go into production any time now.
So far as the two-strokes are concerned, the U 1)3 is a 3,706 c.c three-cylinder unit (100 mm. bore and 130 mm. stroke) giving 125 b.h.p, at 2,200 r.p.m. and a torque of 329 lb. ft. at 1,400 r.p.m. it weighs 1,1201b. The 15D4 —four cylinders, as its designation implies--is a 4,941 cc. unit producing 169 b.h.p. at 2,200 r.p.m. and torque of 444 lb. ft. at 1,500 r.p.m. It weighs 1,410 lb. The UD6 has a displacement of 7,412 cc. and gives 236 b.h.p. at 2,000 r.p.m. (torque: 655 lb. ft. at 1,400 r.p.m.). Weight is 2,094 lb. I understand that the UD5 will produce about 200 b.h.p.
(As a matter of passing interest, the 6LX Gardner gives 150 b.h.p. and weighs aboin 1,600 lb.) The V8 is a 330 b.h.p. unit, also of two-cycle, directinjection design. It has very little application in the company's products, being used in special vehicles and for a high-speed (95 m.p.h.) 40-passenger coach, the R120.
Total engine production is 2,200 units a month. Nissan Diesel work to a maximum ex-factory noise level of 85 phons, concentrating mainly on engine sealing to keep down noise. There is practically no use of alloy, except for the Bosch-type fuel pump body, and wet liners are used throughout the range. Scavenging is via a Roots-type blower with two lobes.
. So far as goods vehicles are concerned, they range from the 6-tonner I have already described to 11-tonners, offering both bonneted and tilt-cab forward-control models. The lightest true UD normal-control truck is the 180 range 8-tanner using the UD4 engine. . The chassis is offered in various body forms, being frequently used as a 71-ton tipper. Unladen, the 8-tonner weighs some 51 tons.
Air-braking is employed, and (in common with all Japanese vehicles) the handbrake acts on the propeller shaft; in this case it is of the external contracting band type, but some Japanese trucks and buses use internal expanding bands.
In a three-axle form (the 6TW range) the same chassis is used in a variety of guises with the UD6 engine. For instance, as a drop-sided truck it is used as a 15-tonner, at which payload it has a gross weight of some 23+ tons,
thus coming outside the• ordinary limits. It is also used as a tractive unit for low-loader work.•
As a two-axle vehicle, five forward gears are used with constant-mesh transmission. As a three-axle job it has the same box with spur gears but also uses a two-speed transfer box with constant mesh.
The second basis range of UD goods vehicles are the TC80 vehicles, which are forward-control models, and in this range are longer overall than the T80. The normal control 8-tonner is 26 ft. 6 in. long and 8 ft, 11 in. wide, giving a platform 16 ft. long. The forward-control 8-tonner is 29 ft. or 30 ft. 6 in. long and 8 ft. 11 in. wide. Platform length is 21 ft. 8 in. or 23 ft. I in.
Both ranges use the UD4 engine, the TC80 being some 2+ cwt, heavier because of its longer body. The chassis/ cab of both ranges weigh about the same.
As with the normal-control vehicles, the TC80 range also has a six-wheeler, but this is an I I-tonner powered by the UD6 engine. It grosses 191 tons and so can be used without restriction on the roads. On all six-wheelers both doubleand single-drive versions are available, Mr. Sedei told me, however, that there was no domestic demand for two-speed axles.
The forward-control models have fixed or tilt cabs.
Apart from goods vehicles, there -is also a range of UD buses and coaches. The smallest are the UR690 and the NUR690, carrying respectively 65 and 61 passengers. Both are powered by the UD3 engine, which is mounted longitudinally at the rear. Leaf springing is used, alternative capacities of 41 seated and 24 standing (plus two crew) or 29 and 32 (plus two crew) being offered. Top speed is about 50 m.p.h. One or two doors can be specified (all driver-controlled) and single entrances can be forward of the front axle or central. Another version, the JUR690, is a 69-passenger version giving 41, 39 and 34 seated passengers according to operator-specification.
There is also the bonneted version already mentioned, which is based on the 6-tonner Nissan Motors chassis. This, too, has the UD3 engine and gives between 47 and 55 passengers, depending on seat layout.
UD also have two other p.s.v. ranges, One has the U D4 and the other the UD6 engine. Either leaf or air suspension can be specified. Both have monocoque body construction. The versions with the four-cylinder engine offer between 77and 83-passenger capacity, depending on the seating arrangement, and vary in length between 32 ft. 4 in. and 34 ft. I in.
The larger vehicles, with the UD6 engine, accommodate between 84 and 86 passengers as a city bus; or 40 passengers in coach form, all within the same body shell which is 36 ft. 6 in. long and 8 ft. wide.
In a smaller way of business -are Daihatsu Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha. I make this point somewhat reservedly as their 1963 production of trucks was more than 100,000. Their largest vehicle, however, is a 2-tonner.
Daihatsu make two midget three-wheelers both of 6 cwt. carrying capacity and two larger three-wheelers both of 2 tons capacity and rather similar in general design to the Mazda 2-ton three-wheeler, a perspective drawing of which was published with the first article of this series.
The smallest four-wheeler is the Hi-Jet. a 6-cwt. pick-up. The interesting point about this vehicle is its use of 17 b.h.p., forced-air-cooled two-cycle, two-cylinder engine using a petrol and oil mixture, In this engine petrol and oil are fed separately into a distributor, the ratios varying from 25 :1 to 18 : I. Unladen the vehicle weighs slightly more than 10 cwt. This pick-up can be obtained with normal-control or forward-control cab.
Next in size, and similar in appearance to the Hi-Jet normal-control pick-up is the New-Line. This has a payload of 10 cwt. and about the same performance as the Hi-Jet, but is powered by a water-cooled, fourcylinder 800 c.c. petrol engine developing 41 b.h.p. at 5.000 r.p.m. Unlike the Hi-Jet (which has front independent coil spring suspension) it uses leaf springs front and rear. In common with a great many Japanese commercial vehicles, an AC generator is fitted.
These are, of course, mainly private car derivatives, and so is the Daihatsu Hi-Line one-tonner, which uses a• 1,490 c.c. petrol engine of 78 mm. bore and stroke producing 68 b.h.p. at 4.800 r.p.m.
The main Daihatsu truck is the 2-tonner with forwardcontrol cab. This comes in a variety of wheelbases and a variety of body designs using either a 1,861 c.c. petrol' engine producing 85 b.h.p. at 4,600 r.p.m. (112 lb. ft. torque at 3,200 r.p.m.) or a 2,270 c.c., four-cylinder, four-cycle diesel engine of the swirl-chamber combustion type which produces 63 b.h.p. at 3,600 r.p.m. (107 lb. ft. at 2,000 r.p.m.).
A slightly smaller version of the 2-tonner is produced with the 1,500 c.c. engine and has a payload of tons.
Daihatsu also produce a 21-passenger small bus with the same power-unit options as the 2-ton truck. The chassis is also used for specialist bodywork such as ambulances.
Komatsu vehicles are completely at the opposite end of the scale-30-ton (gross) ofl-road dumpers and very heavy tractors for abnormal load work. In fact, manufacture of vehicles forms only a small part of Komatsu's activities. The company was established in 1921, making mining machinery and machine toots. Now they employ nearly 12,000 people on products as diverse as vinyl pipes, bulldozers and ships' anchor chains. They also produce a wide range of fork-lift equipment. The vehicles are made at their Kawasaki factory, near Yokohama.
Their main interest to me was that they manufacture under licence the Cummins NH series of in-line diesel engines in Japan, both for use in their own products and for outside sale. They also have a British Perkins 4-236 engine on test for construction equipment application. In addition, I was told that talks were going on about possible use (not manufacture) of .a Cummins V8 engine for export.
At present Komatsu manufacture their own in-line engines and the Cummins on parallel lines.
Their " regular " dumper is the HD150, with the Cummins NI1220 power unit giving a 15-ton payload for a 31-ton gross weight Body capacity is about 10.7 cu.-yd.
It is also produced in six-wheel (double drive) form as a tractive unit. Whilst I was there some of these vehicles (with turbocharged NH220) were going through for use with heavy-duty semi-trailers for carrying 45 tons of hot ingots in a steel works. Because there was a high proportion of slag dust in the atmosphere where the vehicles would work, "no external air cleaner" was specified, Cummins Diesel Sales Corporation in Tokyo designed a special application with two air cleaners mounted sideways on the offside of the engine, the air being taken along alloy ducting through the turbocharger to the air inlet manifold, It all fits inside the tractive unit's bonnet.
Cummins and Perkins are obviously both trying hard in Japan, with their eye on the lucrative Far-Eastern markets. One of the new Cummins VAL V6-cylinder diesels has recently been imported into the Philippines from the States to replace an in-line Isuzu mounted at the rear of an Tsuzu bus run by Victory Liner Inc.
One final American/Japanese thought from my Komatsu visit. While I was there I saw an International s.w.b. truck with all manufacturer-identification marks blanked off. Nobody could tell me what it was doing there; but Komatsu do already make, under licence, International farm tractors!