Cummins
Inc. looks to have found another customer for its ISV5.0 V8 diesel engine that
is planned for introduction n Nissan’s Titan pick-up truck.
According to www.newcarannouncements.com,
Toyota Motor Corporation is the new customer for the V8 diesel.
Even
with Toyota adding another string to its bow, Cummins executives no doubt would
like a third customer for its latest engine. Together they would help bolster
production of the Columbus Engine Plant where the new generation engine is to
be built.
In our
item Cummins readies for new ISV5.0,
14 October 2013, we stated: “However,
for sure Cummins Inc. will require more than the order from Nissan (to power
the Titan pick-up truck) to keep the plant running. So expect the company to
announce other orders as time goes by. The Titan may not be the world's best
pick-up truck but for Cummins Inc. it is a good start - and another
breakthrough for CGI”.
And a
new generation engine it is too for Cummins Inc. It is the first time the
company has committed itself to a ‘production’ engine with a compacted graphite
iron (CGI) cylinder block.
The
company has trialled many development engines with the material, now widely
favoured as ‘the’ material for the cylinder blocks and heads of high
performance diesel engines.
It has
taken a long time to convince Cummins executives of the merits of the material,
but finally it has bitten the bullet. The proof now will be in the end
products.
Cylinder
blocks for the ISV5.0 will be sourced from Tupy SA, headquartered in Joinville,
Brazil. As CGI process control specialist SinterCast noted on 29 August 2013: “The
5-litre V8 turbodiesel will be supplied by Cummins, one of the world’s
largest and most respected diesel engine manufacturers. With more than 300bhp
(225kW) and approximately 550lbft (750Nm) torque, the 5-litre V8 diesel will
provide approximately 25 per cent more pulling power than the current gasoline-engined
light duty pick-ups in the US market.”
“The
SinterCast-CGI cylinder block used in the Cummins diesel is produced at the
Tupy foundry in Brazil. Cummins has also indicated that the engine will be
available in other applications such as recreational vehicles and commercial
vehicles, providing opportunities for increased production volumes,” added
SinterCast at the time.
According
to www.newcarannouncements.com
the 2016 Toyota Tundra will come with a V8 Cummins diesel engine. This move can
be considered as an announcement of more important diesel updates that will
come in a couple of years, according to the website.
The website
notes the Cummins turbodiesel engine is already installed in the 2015 Nissan
Titan. As for the Tundra specification, at this point the site points out it is
impossible to say “whether the engine nested under the hood of the 2016 Tundra
will be exactly the same as the Titan’s version”. However, the SinterCast statement gives a few clues.
The website
declares, however, that no matter the power output and fuel economy, “this
engine is the best solution when it comes to the powerful diesel engines for
pickup trucks”.
And certainly,
Toyota is a ‘good’ customer for Cummins Inc., helping to restore the US engine company’s
image after it took so long to find the ‘right’ customers for the engine it has
planned for ages to introduce.
However,
the website suggests that while the 2016 Toyota Tundra diesel version will be
powered with a V8 Cummins, in the future, the truck will get a freshly
developed Toyota diesel engine, which “could outshine other diesel engines”.
The
website adds: “Actually, their plans are more elaborate than that and include
the future regulations regarding the emissions and fuel economy. The 2016
Toyota Tundra won’t have a burden of introducing a new engine, where a lot of
it can go wrong. It will have a reliable engine, which is a worthy addition to
the 2016 Tundra engine line-up”.
If Toyota
does have a new diesel engine on the stocks, the big question is: Will Toyota
follow the Cummins route and adopt CGI for the block?
According
to www.precisionenginetech.com
Toyota has form. The website notes: ”The CGI 5.8-litre blocks used in Toyota’s
NASCAR truck programme weigh a mere 195lb and feature 3mm-thick cylinder walls.
In theory, a CGI block can be final-produced to a lighter overall weight than
an equal-sized aluminium block with equal strength/density (although it’s
suspected that not many builders take advantage of this for fear of giving up
the rigidity factor).”
Time will
tell. ∎
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