Nissan uses new forming technologies to expand NISMO Heritage Parts range in Japan

Nissan announced on March 15^th, 2021 that it will utilize its new technologies to bring to the Japan market additional parts in the NISMO Heritage Parts program, a series of genuine repair and replacement parts for discontinued vehicles. The new technologies include dual-sided dieless forming for body panels and 3-D printing for resin parts.

Nissan unveiled dual-sided dieless forming technology in October 2019 as a method to produce body panels in low volumes. The method enables the molding of complex shapes through the usage of robots pressing rod-shaped molding tools onto opposite sides of a steel sheet to incrementally deform and mold a panel.

With this production method, Nissan plans to produce rear panels for the R32 Skyline GT-R. Nissan created prototypes while incorporating the sheet metal know-how of skilled workers and used dual-sided dieless forming and non-lubricated processing with mirrored diamond-coated tools as a base. By working closely with its suppliers, Nissan has achieved the high-quality required for automobile parts.

The 3-D printing technology was jointly developed with Solize Corporation to produce a protector made of resin for the harness in the R32 Skyline GT-R. With the harness body supplier’s cooperation, Nissan redesigned the parts and conducted performance tests that adapt to 3-D printers, enabling a shorter time to commercialize high-standard parts.