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Cat 3406 engine horse power

barklee

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Aug 4, 2009
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903
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ohio
Does anybody know the range of horse that these motors are set at from the factory? I know its a broad question but i was just curious. Is it 400-550hp? Seems that would be about right.

Also, what would a 1997 model be? A 'B' series or a 'E' series?

Thanks
 

barklee

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ohio
Is what is written on the valve cover tag what the horse is? Because this engine says 385hp, that doesnt sound right given how big the motor is.
 

CRAFT

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Is what is written on the valve cover tag what the horse is? Because this engine says 385hp, that doesnt sound right given how big the motor is.

It probably is ....... 3406 series engines started along time ago with the "A" series ..... I believe that were a low as 350hp ..... I have an '86 w/425hp B-model w/the air-air system, simply a rad in front of the main radiator that cools intake air before it goes into the engine ..... but .... I also drove (at the time) new '86 Ford LTL9000 w/400hp B-model slant six ...LOL ..... What you are asking for is a multiple answer question that needs more info to get the correct answer ....cheers
 

TCS

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Feb 16, 2012
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ct
I believe my first 3406A was at 310 horse which was a total dog so we increased it to 350hp.The last 3406B we owned was 425 and the 3406E we run now is 475hp.So as you see the hp ratings may be all over the board.If there is no hp rating on the tag,look up the CPL and the arrangement number to look it up.
 

Vigilant

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What about the 3406 DITA? Was that just an upgraded A Model?

From what I remember, the DITA did not receive rave reviews.

I always thought the 3406B was the best of the bunch.
 

barklee

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Aug 4, 2009
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ohio
I will have to give the engine serial number to the cat dealer. I guess thats the only real way to say for sure? The 385hp is a real bummer, i would like to turn it up asap. gotta find out what it could go up to without changing injectors and what not.
 

buckfever

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Aug 12, 2010
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southwest pa
I have a 3406B in our dump and it has 350hp. Writen right on the vavle cover too. We also have a 3406B in our road tracktor that has 425hp. Both trucks are 1989 models.
 

sl3406

Active Member
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Mar 13, 2012
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United States
What about the 3406 DITA? Was that just an upgraded A Model?

From what I remember, the DITA did not receive rave reviews.

I always thought the 3406B was the best of the bunch.

DITA stands for Direct Injection Turbo charged Aftercooled. The first A model 3406's had precombustion chambers and glow plugs so direct injection was quite an improvement. My first truck had a 3406A DITA. It was a very good engine, reliable and made good power, just not very economical by today's standards.
 

CRAFT

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Ideally how many horses do you want....?

Kinda what I was thinking when I previously posted about having multiple choice answers to your question.

........ What are you planning or wanting to do ?? that you are not satisfied with 385hp.

........ the 3406 is one mother of a tough engine, capable of tons of hp and will live with a real operator on the right hand pedal ..... as I said mine is the 3406B 425hp ...... its been fueled up HOT :eek:.... putting 487hp dynoed to the ground ...... but when I had hired drivers running it they took out turbos not knowing how to shift, fueled-up the turbo spins at a higher rpm creating higher boost .....the drivers would stab into the throttle, or not feather out of the throttle either when grabbing a gear, causing the turbo to make a chopping sound which is a sound of the turbo trying to stall, which in turn twists the centre cartridge shaft in half .... another draw back these days is a guy driving with those bad habits will cause the puppy to smoke black under a lugging pull like you never seen before,:cool2 the smoke would come outta the stacks so heavy that it would fall to the ground at the drivers (rear drive axles) ......cars following you would turn on their wipers and it would only smear ....lol... but when shifted properly will run pretty clean. In the old days that was considered COOL :notworthy...... with all of the epa cops around today, I don't think you'd want to take a chance by over fueling an engine.

If you NEED more hp giving it 50hp at the fly wheel will not be a problem. ..... that is easily done at the pump by the right guy setting it up.
 

chevota84

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Apr 12, 2011
Messages
189
Location
Prineville OR
If you need a little bump in HP on an E, trim codes and a resistor in the fuel temp wire will give you 70-100 HP and its almost free.

I've done trim codes on a 385hp E and it gave it a nice little bump in HP and didn't seem to affect the Pyro too much, it pushed the boost up about 3psi without messing with the wastegate so its definitely a noticeable increase in fuel.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk
 

Nige

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Kinda what I was thinking when I previously posted about having multiple choice answers to your question.

........ What are you planning or wanting to do ?? that you are not satisfied with 385hp.

What I was thinking was with the actual Engine Serial # and an idea of how many HP he wants I could figure out a change in configuration from the current engine to the closest standard config (there must be thousands of them) that breaks no rules and uses all standard off-the-shelf parts & settings. Unless we know what the current engine arrangement is it's kinda hard to stab in the dark as to what it might need.
 
Last edited:

brent664

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Aug 15, 2013
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1
Location
Kentucky
The 3406A was not a pre-chamber. The first 3406 truck engine was a 3406PC, then the 3406A which was a DI (Direct Inject)
 

Fastdirt

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Sep 16, 2010
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743
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GA
Well, that is a bummer to have a 3406E rated at 385. I've recently learned that if you want to add substantial power to a 3406E it has to be the 475hp or higher engine in order to turn it up. Those engines have the stronger pistons and a C15 has to be factory rated at 435 or greater to handle bigger turbos and ECM flashes. I do know that the 3406E 475 and the 3406E 550 are the exact same engines, only the ECM is flashed different. I recently bought a truck with a 3406E and I called Cat Power several times with serial # prospects. Also talked with PDI and Pittsburgh Power and they all said the same. They also said that the Cat dealer will add all the emission codes in your ECM if you get them to uprate the ECM. I'm still learning this subject myself.
 

Nige

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I do know that the 3406E 475 and the 3406E 550 are the exact same engines, only the ECM is flashed different.
16% more BHP just from a software flash in an inline 6 - I find that a bit hard to believe. Typically there would be a turbo change involved for something like this.

I was working on a repower of a C32 a couple of weeks ago from 800 to 875 and the differences between the 2 engines was the software flash and a change of turbos. It didn't include an injector change which at the time quite surprised me. If that's what an 800 HP engine needs to gain 75 HP then I'd bet my last cent that to get the same power gain on a 475 HP engine would need at least a turbo & flash upgrade plus probably injectors as well.
 

chevota84

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Prineville OR
16% more BHP just from a software flash in an inline 6 - I find that a bit hard to believe. Typically there would be a turbo change involved for something like this.

I was working on a repower of a C32 a couple of weeks ago from 800 to 875 and the differences between the 2 engines was the software flash and a change of turbos. It didn't include an injector change which at the time quite surprised me. If that's what an 800 HP engine needs to gain 75 HP then I'd bet my last cent that to get the same power gain on a 475 HP engine would need at least a turbo & flash upgrade plus probably injectors as well.

No. 475 and 550 hard parts are identical. Theyre both 1850 torque too

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
 

Dualie

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Feb 23, 2007
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Nor Cal
My 06 T-800 c-15 was factory set at 475 and the dealer bumped it to 550 under the original purchase agreement. I broke it in at 475 and had it bumped around 10,000 miles.

IT was a real pain in the ass to get that done on a brand new truck, had to get mother cat involved to unlock the ECM and everything. Now company's like PDI have figured out how to crack the cat security algorithm its no big deal to bump 475's to over 600 with just a turbo swap and fuel settings trim codes.
 
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