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SEVERAL Australian automotive component manufacturers, shaken by the imminent exit of the Big Three car manufacturers from Australia, have been given a fillip by production deals with OEM-quality right-hand-drive vehicle conversion business American Special Vehicles (ASV).

Masterminded by partners Walkinshaw Automotive Group and Ateco Automotive, ASV has started out by converting just one model, the Mexican-built Ram 2500/3500 full-sized pick-up at the rate of 500 a year at its Victorian factory, but if ASV has its way, more models with greater volume will be forthcoming, and not just from Ram.

Local component manufacturers such as Socobell OEM, Trident Plastics, Lumen and others are supplying about 70 per cent of the 400 new components required by ASV for the right-hand-drive version of the diesel-powered truck that is sold not only in Australia but New Zealand and – soon – export markets such as South Africa and the Asia-Pacific.

Bit part: Ram pick-ups get the right-hand-drive treatment and a sprinkling of Australian-made parts on the ASV production line.

Bit part: Ram pick-ups get the right-hand-drive treatment and a sprinkling of Australian-made parts on the ASV production line.

While parts orders are comparatively small to date, ASV has given hard-pressed manufacturers some light at the end of the tunnel as they look to generate other business to fill the void left by Ford, Toyota and Holden.

In return, the parts manufactures are delivering the same OEM quality as they do for the big manufacturers in a new team effort with ASV that apparently has left Ram parent company FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) gobsmacked at the engineering standard, attention to detail and finish.

With the help of financial aid from the federal government’s manufacturing fund, ASV has spent almost $5 million on the engineering, testing and tooling for the conversion process at its factory in the one-time Volkswagen and Nissan plant at Clayton, in Melbourne’s south-east, smack next door to sister company Holden Special Vehicles.

Although ASV was not required to crash-test the Ram to achieve full-volume Australian Design Rule certification because of its size, it did it anyway for engineering peace of mind. According the ASV, the big truck passed the brutal full-front barrier test at Melbourne’s APV facility at Campbellfield “with flying colours”.

The company has already built 300 RHD vehicles since October, and hopes to convert at least 500 of the pick-ups this calendar year, at the rate of 50-to-70 a month. However, it has the capacity to expand to 1000 on the existing production line, and has room to go beyond that if the hoped-for new models and export volumes materialise.

Some of the parts suppliers, including Adelaide-based Trident, have existing contracts with HSV, for whom Trident makes bumpers.

Melbourne’s Socobell, on the other hand, had never dealt with the Walkinshaw organisation previously, having delivered dashboards and other components to Toyota Australia for its Altona-built Camry, as well as parts for other Toyota factories overseas.

ASV joint chief operating officer John DiBerardino said that when he and his engineering team decided it would have to completely replace the Ram pick-up’s dashboard to achieve a quality right-hand-drive conversion to match the left-hand-drive factory original, Socobell delivered the tooling for a dashboard of the same quality as it supplies to Toyota in just six months – about half the time it would normally spend on such an item.

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He said about $1 million was spent on the tooling and testing of the new dash assembly – including airbag test firing at extreme temperatures – before production started in October last year.

“This is where the money went,” a smiling Mr DiBerardini said while patting one of the dashboard units at the factory this week.

Trident Plastics supplies items such as the new glovebox lid, instrument binnacle and demister ducts, while another supplier recycles the steel dashboard support beam by cutting off the unwanted left-hand drive mounts and welding new items for right-hand drive.

Mr DiBerardini – an engineer formerly with Walkinshaw Racing and HSV – said that where possible, parts were being recycled to minimise cost.

He cited the example of the dash wiring harness which, rather than being replaced with a new one, is reworked by electronics supplier Lumen to suit the rebuilt RHD dash.

One of the more expensive replacement items, the steering box, had to be re-engineered to suit RHD application, but Mr DiBerardini said the internal workings were carried over inside a new exterior casting with the mount on the opposite side.

This unit is imported, from the Chinese supplier of the original Ram box.

Many of the RHD conversion parts were designed in Walkinshaw’s CAD (computer-aided design) department before being farmed out to the suppliers.

Peter McGeown

Peter McGeown

While some parts were required to accommodate the process of switching the steering wheel from the left to right – and to remedy a multitude of resultant consequences without compromising the vehicle’s integrity – others were needed to meet Australia’s unique design rules.

For example, new exterior mirrors were required, but rather than replace the whole wing mirror, ASV came up with a solution requiring just a new mirror plate within the original wing unit.

At the factory, the conversion process starts with the removal of the entire four-door, six-seat cabin from the ladder chassis so that the production workers – 28 of them on the shop floor – can strip various components such as the steering system, seats and dash, and get to work cutting, drilling, welding and painting the vehicle into its new configuration.

While the stripped vehicle travels down one line, the body travels down another before being reunited at the end.

Five separate off-line work stations prepare assemblies such as the dash and seats – the latter needs to have motors, switches and controls switched over so the driver gets the full complement of 10 electric seat directions – before being returned to the main lines for refitting.

Ram’s factory helps by supplying vehicles with Australia-specific items such speedos marked in kilometres and sat-nav systems and radios ready for local use.

The full assembly line process takes three days, with about three trucks a day rolling over to the undercover stock storage area within the same building.

Mr DiBerardino said his organisation had learned a great deal in the development process for the Ram conversion.

In doing so, his team had identified several areas where some changes in the original truck at the FCA factory could help the process and cut cost, and these would be relayed to the American company.

The current model – introduced in 2009 in North America, with an update in 2013 – is expected to run for another two-to-three years before and all-new vehicle arrives.

Mr DiBerardino said ASV planned to take that model for RHD conversion too.

By Ron Hammerton

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