240 Landmarks Top ＞ Buses ＞ Minsei Rear Engine Bus 　Minsei Rear Engine Bus This was the first rear engine bus in Japan to be built with a monocoque structure, a technique used in the manufacture of aircraft in which the frame is eliminated and strength and rigidity are provided instead by the skin of the vehicle body. It was modeled after a General Motors rear engine bus that the American Occupation forces had brought into Japan. The shapes of the front and rear windows resemble those of the GM bus. Seats were provided along the entire length of the body, and visibility was good. At this time, the body did not have a row of fixed windows above the passenger windows to provide visibility for standing passengers. Because the body had no frame, the aisle over the rear axle was wide and flat, and in models with bench seats along the sides, not only was it easy to take a seat, but there was also plenty of room for standing passengers. The engine was a German-made Krupp-Junkers Type KD3 with three opposed-piston cylinders and direct fuel injection. The engine had an unusual structure, with no cylinder head, and in each of the tubular cylinders, two pistons that came together from opposite directions, above and below, to form the combustion chamber. At the time, Minsei was the only Japanese manufacturer of direct injection engines for automobiles. The engine was mounted so that the crankshaft was perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the body, and it drove the rear axle through a 70-degree angle drive mechanism. Storage location : NISSAN DIESEL MOTOR CO., LTD. (1-1, Ageo-shi, Saitama-ken 362-8523) Year manufactured : 1949 Manufacturer : Minsei Diesel Industries, Ltd. Classification : Literature Current status : In storage: open to the public Vehicle name / Manufacture Vehicle name : Minsei Condor Rear Engine Bus Model name : BR30 Company name : Minsei Diesel Industries, Ltd. (current Nissan Diesel Motor Co., Ltd.) Year manufactured : 1949 Designed by : Minsei Diesel Collaboration : Fuji Jidosha Kogyo Co., Ltd. Vehicle type/usage : Large bus for sightseeing Location of actual vehicle/replica : None Model / Weight Style : Box type bus Number of doors : Front: 1 + emergency exit: 1 Passenger capacity : Seat: 45 + standing capacity: 10 + other: 2 Vehicle weight : 6950 kg Points of interest, topicality : Japan's first monocoque rear-engined sightseeing bus Body / Size Structure : Stressed skin construction Riveted steel sheets Bumpers : Stamped steel sheets Step : 1 step (step height: 395 mm) Overall length : 10390 mm Overall width : 2450 mm Overall height : 2785 mm Tire size : 36×8 Features : Aircraft manufacturing technology was applied. It was Japan's first monocoque rear engine bus, and had a stressed skin construction that was light and very rigid. Body / Axle / Driving / Others Frame : None Front axle : Forged I beam reverse Elliott type, parallel laminated spring, variable effective length Nagisa type Rear axle : Cast steel banjo axle tube full floating type parallel laminated spring, variable effective length Nagisa type Wheelbase : 5300 Front tread x rear tread : 1775×1730 mm Vehicle height adjustment : None Steering : Worm and roller type Dampers : Hydraulic cylinder single-acting type, hydraulic cylinder type Stabilizer : None Driving stability devices : None Features : Nagisa type springs with a contact type rear end. Its effective length becomes shorter as the load on the spring increases. Good ride comfort in loaded and unloaded states. Engine / Size / Power Cooling/cylinder arrangement : Water-cooled/opposed piston inline 3-cylinder Valve train : Port type for intake and exhaust Bore x stroke : 85×(144+96) mm Displacement : 4.086 L Max. power/r.p.m. : 90 ps/1500 rpm Fetures : Opposed piston uniflow-scavenging 2-cycle direct injection engine produced under the patent of Krupp-Junkers of Germany. The nozzle is an open type with an open valve pressure of 0. Hybrid Hybrid system type : None Drive-train Transmission : 4 forward speeds and 1 reverse speed, constant-mesh type with 70 deg turning device Drive system : RR engine lateral Performance Mode fuel efficiency : - Reference materials : Minsei Giho, No. 5, pp. 1-9, Junjiro Tsurumi, "Minsei Ria Enjin Bus No Kakubu Kozo Ni Tsuite", May 1952; Shaho "Minsei" Sokango, p. 2, Apr. 1950 Minsei Giho, No. 5, pp. 10-14, Shinroku Momose, "Shingata Condor Ni Tsuite", May 1952 240 Landmarks Top ＞ Buses ＞ Minsei Rear Engine Bus