EXPERIENC 'OUNTS Especially re-war
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New B.M.C. 10-12 cwt Forward-control Van Lively, Economical an Handy to Use: Standardize( Components Cut Initial anc
Replacement Costs By John F. Moon,
A.M.I.R.T.E.
THE British Motor Corporation's experience with forward-control delivery vans of up to 1-ton capacity dates back to pre-war days because of the incorporation of Morris Commercial Cars, Ltd., within the Group. It is not surprising, therefore, that any B.M.C. product in this category should be of a particularly high stan,dard, and this is certainly true of their latest—the 10-12-cwt. van.
This design was introduced on the opening day of the 1960 Commercial Motor Show and, in effect, replaces the original Morris J-type 10-cwt. van which had been in production for 12 years. Like the later versions of the J-type, the new van is made with " Austin " or " Morris " name badges, although in other respects both ver sions are identical. Common with the original J-type also are the basic engine and gearbox units.
Here the resemblance ends, however, for the 10-12-cwt. van has modern lines, a more convenient cab layout, greater payload space and a slightly higher weight rating. Indeed, the van owes its lines to none other than Pinin Farina himself, thereby becoming the first commercial vehicle to have been styled by the Italian maestro, although that in itself hardly provides grounds for the decision to buy or otherwise.
Nevertheless, the smooth and shapely lines of this new van are no mere facade, the general road performance and handling being particularly good for a vehicle of this class, especially with regard to braking per formance, correct braking balan4 being difficult to achieve with a shot wheelbase, forward-engined vehicle this capacity.
The van was fully described" ar illustrated in the September 23, 196, issue of The Commercial Motor. I general design follows the lines of ti slightly larger 152 15-cwt. van, whic was introduced 4} years ago, in fit; integral construction and an engir location immediately above the cent/ line of the set-back front wheels hal, been adopted.
Fortunately, sliding cab doors ha" been inherited from the earlier desigr. —although there is the option c hinged doors—whilst running-un improvements include the adoption c coil-spring independent front susper
on, three-quarter-floating rear axle, ad a floor-mounted gear-change lever -the action of which is a great relief ) those who, like myself, have had ) struggle with steering-column'owned levers on many recent vans f this type.
Compared with other B.M.C. designs, le new van is llf in. shorter than the 52 (Morris .1.2) van and 10 in: longer ian the 101 (JB), although its wheelase is the same as that of the 101. 'he length of the payload space is ft. 1 in. less than that of the 152, but in. greater than that of the 101, (Hist the overall width-5 ft. 9+ in. -is 41 in. less than that of the 152 rid 5+ in. greater than the width of le 101.
It will be seen, therefore, that the an is more than a mere replacement Dr the original 101 whilst, at the ame time, It is not quite so bulky as 'le 152/J.2 models, although mechnically all three designs do not differ reatly. In any case, quite apart from s performance, the van is cornpetiLvely priced at £470 and I shall be urprised if it does not have at least s long a run as did the J-type, which emained popular for 12 years.
The van has a B.M.C. B-series power unit, which is basically the same as used in many private cars produced by the Corporation, but is derated to develop 42 b.h.p. at 4,000 r.p.m. A new type of carburetter has been developed by Solex, Ltd., this being the B.26 HN horizontal type which is so compact that the Burgess wetgauze air filter can entirely surround it. The engine is set well back so that the cowling ahead of the radiator lies no farther forward than the front edges of the seat cushions, thus easy access to the driving seat is given from the nearside door, a big advantage on delivery work.
The engine is unit-mounted with a B.M.C. four-speed synchromesh gearbox which, although basically designed for operation by a steering-column lever, has been converted for use with a floor-mounted lever adjacent to the driving seat. This lever has a particularly smooth and direct action, and the fact that first and second gear positions are to the right of third and top gear did not prove at all troublesome in practice, although the gate is the reverse of that normally encountered on British vehicles.
The gearbox has a long tail extension which appreciably reduces the propeller shaft length, besides imparting additional rigidity to the gearbox main shaft. The rear axle is a threequarter-floating hypoid-bevel unit, and in service should prove more substantial than the semi-floating unit used in the 101 design.
For the first time on B.M.C. vans of this genus independent front suspension has been adopted, the coilspring-and-wishbone system used being almost identical to that employed on many B.M.C. cars. The geometry of this layout is such that the handling of the van at high speeds reaches a very high standard, the absence of roll on corners being particularly marked and marred only by somewhat inexplicable steering heaviness and deadness.
Technically one of the more interesting design features of the van is the braking system. Although on paper this is little different from that used by other manufacturers on vans of this layout, the braking balance is such that, even with the van empty, there is virtually no tendency for the rear wheels to lift, whilst the fully laden vehicle is completely stable under crash stop conditions on both wet and dry roads.
Eli 6 This is partly because of the use of wider brakes at the front wheels than at the rear, although the additional lining area is principally of advantage under fade conditions. Similarly, the weight distribution ratio is not greatly different from the front-rear ratio to be found on other vans of this type. Whatever the answer is, however, I would certainly rate this B.M.C. design as the safest to stop from any speed on any road.
The all-steel welded body includes integral underframing on which the running units are mounted, the main framing members being of top-hat section. Swaging of the major body panels gives rigidity, and in this respect the absence of body drumming was most marked.
Production costs have been cut by designing the cab doors so that they may be mounted on runners for the flush sliding-door application or hung on hinges when the optional hinged door are required, whilst both rear doors hay common pressings, with no overlappin lip at the central join.
Additional loading space is avaiIabI on the flat-topped rear wheelboxes, whic are continued to the rear of the bod3 whilst hinged-door vans would have slightly greater space at the front of th body because the casing panels used i: the sliding-door versions would not b necessary. The design includes a parti cularly large one-piece windscreen, twit self-parking wipers which cover a usefu area of the screen, a two-way roc ventilator which effectively prevento condensation in the body interior, quick acting rear door locks, and a driving sea with three-position adjustment.
A passenger seat is optional on horn models, but standard on export vans (Comm fled on page 615)
is, too, is adjustable, though not over same range as the driving seat because battery—stowed behind the seat— nets rearward movement. .
[he Austin van offered to me for test 1 a kerb weight of 1 on 1+ cwt., and as carrying gravel-filled bags totalling cwt. With the load evenly distributed I no one in the cab, the rear-wheel ding Was 1+ cwt.' higher than the ding on the front wheels, whilst with ) persons in the cab the front-wheel ding exceeded that of the rear wheels 2 cwt., showing reasonably even tyre dings.
Good Driving Position
collected the van at the Longbridge rks, and the journey to London was de in good time without any discomt. The driving position was very ch to my liking, although the heavis of the steering was a little disconting initially, an affect which appeared decrease as the test progressed.
isnother point that struck me at. this ge was that induction roar was greater as it had been on the original preAuction models which I had driven 'ore the introduction of this van. This erence could be accounted for by the of paper-elemept air cleaners in the• ly days, which have now been replaced wet-gauze units. Pinking occurred en using straight regular fuel; so all ts were made with a 50 : 50 mixture of triiutri and regular petrols. Rapid rming-up was a notable feature,
full-load tests were conducted at a ss weight ofI ton 17 cwt.—a 1 i-cwt. rload—and, in view of a weather forewhich promised rain, hail and strong ids, I carried out brake tests on a wet id before the rain started. The van s perfectly stable under these conions and stopped in 18.75 ft. from m.p.h. and 42.75 ft. from 30 m.p.h., front wheels locking slightly. .
ess it turned out the weather prophets re inaccurate, and within an hour of se tests I was able to take repeat Hes on a completely dry concrete road, h the results recorded in the data sel—results which are exceptional for vehicle of this nature. Hand-brake ciency was good also, applications of pistol-grip lever from 20 m.p.h. prosing Tapley-meter readings of 35 per it. accompanied by locking of both r wheels.
7nel-consumption tests were made on undulating six-mile out-and-return irse on the A6 between Barton and sphill. Seven tests were carried out: ee with full load, three with part load,
3 one unladen, and the figures obtained all cases were most satisfactory. The santageouS power to weight ratio is leeted by the comparative closeness of results, ks is usual on this type of test, when king simulated delivery runs each stop s of 15-seconds duration, during which
le the engine was left idling_ The :rage speeds quoted are based on the al running time and, from my previous aerience of such results, it is fairly safe say that under normal service condins an overall fuel consumption rate of
approximately 29 m.p.g. should be obtained.
Hill-performance tests were made on Bison Hill, a incline with a general gradient of I in 101. The ambient temperature during these tests was 48°F., and a fast non-stop climb was made in 2 minutes 39 seconds, during which time 55 seconds were spent in second gear. At no time did the road speed fall below 14 m.p.h., and the coolant temperature rose by only 10° F. from its normal value of 160° F.
To check for fade resistance I coasted the van down the slope, the descent lasting 2 minutes 42 seconds. Towards the bottom of the hill I engaged top gear and applied full throttle to keep the brakes working where the gradient is not so steep. At the conclusion of the descent a full-pressure stop from 20 m.p.h. produced a Tapley-meter reading of 85 per cent., a drop of only 10 per cent. compared with the cold-drums figure obtained earlier.
Not in Second
An attempted second-gear restart on the 1-in-61 section of Bison failed, although a bottom-gear restart was made comfortably. Later in the test, bottom gear restarts were made on a 1-in-4 gradient, using full throttle and a certain amount of intentional clutch slip. This is a more than adequate gradient performance for a fully laden 10/12-cwt, van. The hand brake held the van easily on this steep slope without any need to be helped on by the footbrake.
Following these tests, and while carrying the full 12-cwt. payload, 14 miles of the MI were covered by way of a fullthrottle fuel-consumption test. This distance was completed at an average speed of 48.8 m.p.h.; the tank showing a consumption rate of 25.6 m.p.g. The van was cruised at 54 m.p.h., whilst the speed rose to 60 m.p.h. on down gradients and dropped to approximately 40 m.p.h. on the steeper climbs.
This test revealed also the remarkable accuracy of the speedometer, by way of a change. Gear speeds recorded were: bottom, 18 m.p.h.; second, 29 m.p.h.: third, 45 m.p.h.; and top, 54 m.p.h.—all figures being taken on a level stretch of road.
Pleasing Performance
In all, I was most pleased with the general performance and handling of this latest B.M.C. design, the attention to detail being particularly good and presenting considerable appeal to operators of this class of van The only poor feature was the steering heaviness which, as remarked upon earlier, is basically an initial impression in any Case.
In respect of power adequacy, gearbox matching and ease of changing, braking safety, suspension and stability. comfort. visibility, easy loading and general utility, the van has few equals in Europe. Its suitability for all classes of delivery work—whether they be in town or country—is indisputable, whilst its performance and the high percentage of running units common to those of other B.M.C. goods vehicles and cars should help to keep overall operating costs down.
Maintenance tasks were not helped particularly by the tool kit provided with the van, which consisted merely of a ratchet jack and tommy bar, wheelbrace, bleeding tube for the braking system, two engine-lifting lugs and a square plug for the rear-axle level-plug socket.
To check the engine-oil and radiator levels it is necessary to remove the main engine cowl, removal of this taking 6 seconds and replacement 9 seconds. The overall time to check the engine-oil level was 32 seconds, whilst that for the water level was 21 seconds.
Gearbox Dip Stick
The gearbox has a dip stick, reached from underneath the van, and a level check took 29 seconds. Using the special plug I checked the rear-axle oil level in I minute 24 seconds.
The battery is stowed behind the passenger seat and its cell levels were checked in 1 minute 5 seconds without difficulty. The combined reservoir for he brake and clutch actuation systems is located beneath the driving seat, which seat and the trap beneath it have to be removed. The fluid level took me 51 seconds to check, including removal and replacement of the scat.
The sparking plugs are all equally easy to reach, and with the engine cowl already detached I removed a plug in 25 seconds and replaced it iri 28 seconds. The air filter has to be dismantled before it can be detached from the carburetter, and the existing slotted set screw is to he replaced by a wing nut shortly, which will simplify this procedure, As it was, using a 6d, piece to turn the screw. I removed the cleanerelement in 1 minute 5 seconds and replaced it in I minute 8 seconds, the passenger seat being detached and replaced in the process.
A spare wheel is optional equipment, and when supplied it is bolted to a wooden frame on the bulkhead behind the driving seat, where it is easy to reach and well protected from the elements. I removed the wheel in 45 seconds and replaced it in 1 minute 12 seconds, a minor fault being that the securing nuts are not the, same size as the wheel nuts. (The spare wheel is supplied as standard on export models.) As a final task I started to adjust the brakes, There are two jacking points on each side of the van and, with the full payload aboard, I jacked up the offside rear wheel in 2 minutes 10 seconds and adjusted that brake in 16 seconds. Unfortunately, the jack could not then be lowered (presumably because a pin had sheared) so I had to use another jack to release the Van's jack.
The failure of the jack made it impossible to carry out further brake adjustment but such adjustments should not be difficult, there being two squareheaded adjusters on each front brake and a single adjuster of the same size on each rear brake. I did not attempt to check the contact-breaker points gap. as the distributor is not easy to reach, and no provision is made for use of a cranking handle with which to turn the engine.