They had a much narrower power band as well when compared to a 4 stroke diesel engine.

 

i cant believe that these old detroits could even get a set of michigan steel trains moving, with 200,000 + pounds it amazing they didnt blow their drive shaft out.

 

gotta love them old detroits.....climb in in the mornin stomp the throttle pedal to the floor leave it there till quittin time. biggest killer of em was guys lugging em its wot all the time. Kinda like drivin a race car. That and the noise is why they always tired out the drivers. Dad had a few, he would fire the driver if he heard it under 2k for long. (He's just ornery tho)

 

I agree to a point. They sound neat as long as it's a toy, I'd hate to be forced to listen to that all day to make a living.

The Acerts can be fixed, I have 2 with no issues but you can have the ECM reprogrammed or if it has the 70pin ECM you can put an ECM off an older C15 which puts the timing back where it should me and disables all the emission equipment. They have single turbo conversion kits ect. Amazing how the EPA can screw up things.

 

Cat motors quit being "good" when they got rid of the 3406. I wouldn't want one of the newer ones. Personally I like the Detriot 60 series. They were reliable and got good mileage. We have a lot of Cats at work and enough Detriots to look at, and the Cats are in the shop a lot more then Detriot like 5 to 1, unless the truck has a DPF on it.
DS79

 

As a HD mechanic, I've worked at a Cat dealer truck engine shop and now Detroit dealer truck engine shop. I would personally choose a Series 60 over any Caterpillar. but people in general are way too brand loyal.


As of 2007-ish there was the millionth Series 60 produced, can't be that bad. with that said they all do a days work no matter what color it is.

 

Actually the Acert is a better engine than the 3406, if you strip off all the EPA crap. It's the 14.6L block with the 15.8L (C-16) crank so you get a longer stroke, larger bearings. Remove the restrictive exhaust, custom ECM tune and a single charger conversion and you've got an awesome platform. With a cam swap you can get over 1k hp. Sounds like a big deal but if your overhauling a truck anyway it's not expensive to upgrade.

Detroits work well for fleet trucks hauling little loads but when you need real torque........

 

i wonder how much the toll is when driving on the turnpike with thing^^^

 

Its too bad doing that will get you ticketed for tampering with the Emisisons equipment. Not tomention Cat was never known for the fuel milage, so adding twice the horse power to it should do wonders in that department
DS79

 

Jfaulkner do you run one of these super heavy haul rigs? I know you can probably haul most anything you choose but what are these trailers designed to haul? Big vessels? Or something specialized?

 

thats a cute little heavy haul trailer. probably put a 150 ton transformer on it.


when you need real torque you get out of your pansy truck and into 5 or 6 tractors with outboard planetaries.............heavy haul is a way of life in the Alberta oilfield. this a 500 ton coker oven on its way up to the oilsands operation in Ft McMurray Alberta. 500 ton vessel isn't even really that big around here.




Premay hauled a 900 ton coker up to Fort Mac a few years back.

 

http://www.moorepower.com/images/sho...e_coatings.jpg Here is a Detroit that makes some power! The first truck engine that I worked on was a 12V71 with twin turbos, "owner installed". He also liked to turn the 318's "8V71" up to 3000 rpm, but the bearings did not last as long.

 

thats a 16v92 there and shiny too! I saw a Freightliner bonneville race truck with a 16v92 in it out of a tugboat. was cranked up to 2000 or 3000hp. I can't recall which right off the top of my head.



this guys older pete is a series 60 with over 800hp to the wheels to. he's been on our dyno.

 

That 16V92 in a looong nose Freightshaker was dynoed at over 900 hp. So was the twin to this one, before they were both detuned.

 

Oh I know I haven't slept since I removed the converters from all mine. And actually if you change the programming and actually put some timing back in the engine you gain fuel mileage. Take the epa engine and install a pre-epa ECM and bingo you have a good engine again.

Lower HP does not equal higher fuel mileage. A good driver and a properly spec'd truck equals higher fuel mileage. Also most of the Detroit hype is because they're pulling a van with little weight OTR. Take the same truck, pull a detach with a bulldozer with a lead food driver and see those numbers fall. You give me a 7mpg truck and I'll show you how to get 4mpg out of it.