CAT 3406 question

[truckabilly]

Can somebody tell me what version of CAT 3406 engine is in the Revell USA snap kits? I would say 3406 A but I´m not sure. Some say that A´s started life as PCTA and then changed to DITA. The others say that PCTA was just the plain 3406 and they were marked A only after DITA came out. Not that it matter to me that much but I wonder what visible changes should I make to the engine to make it a B. Probably a different shape and location of the fuel pump, the conus cover in front, maybe a different shape of the aftercooler... by the way, why there are different shapes of aftercoolers anyway? And what about the turbo side of the engine? Is it the same for A and B or are there any differencies too? There are heaps of pictures on the net but I´m kinda confused. Need some educadion on that. Can somebody shed some light in it for me, please?

Thanks, Jarda

[Force]

With the age of the truck kits in mind I would say the Cat engine in the Revell (old Monogram) Snap KW W900 and Pete 359 are a 3406 PCTA (pre combustion chamber turbo charged after cooled) with glow plugs, or possibly a 3406A PCTA or DITA (direct injection turbo charged after cooled), the A was available with both.

The KW kit was originally released as a Bicentennial VIT 200 wich came in 1976 for the US 200 years celebration and the 3406A was produced through the mid 80's, the B came later and around 1990 it came with ATAAC (air to air after cooled) this setup is more known over here in Europe as Turbo Intercooler.

I don't know what visual differences there are between the PCTA and DITA, and the A and B model, but most of it must be pretty much the same as all have mechanical fuel systems, the largest difference should be when they introduced the ATAAC.

Edited May 5, 2014 by Force

[scale trucker]

1988 was the first year for ataac..you need to change the pump so that it is a the front with out the long shaft

[dad vader]

The 3406 "A" model was a replacement for the 1693.Which was a DI or PC engine. The original production engine of the 3406 was never a PC engine in the truck market,however there was a PC version in the vocational/industrial market,it was not well recieved and was discontinued even in that market. Then came the"B" model,then the "B" model electronic and then the "C" model, the "C" model was just an electronic "B" with improved electronics. But they still had the traditional rack and pump and barrel fuel pump. They never really built a "D" model and went straight to the "E" model ,For Electronic.The large cone on the front side of the gear cover,in front of the fuel pump housed the timing advance assembly,on the electrontic engine it had a electric motor controlled by the ECM to advance and retard the timing.And just to clarify the "A" model was never called the "A" model until Caterpillar devloped the "B" model,it was just the 3406.

The engine in the KW/Pete Revell snap models represents a 3406 "A" DIT model It has no after cooler. Engines up to 350HP were not "Aftercooled". The 3406 was never offered in the truck market without a turbo. So all engines in a truck would be at least "DIT" Engines over 350 were "DITA"'s. Caterpillars fancy name for the after cooler was "Jacket water aftercooling" , or "JWAC". And the of course more modern engines are "ATAAC" But again there were engines that did not have ATAAC,but only below 350H,even with the "B" model.

To turn the 3406 in those kits to a "B" model you would have to extend the gear cover above the fuel pump up and move the air compressor up to there,remove the fuelpump driveshaft and move the pump and barrel section of the fuel pump forward to the gear cover,Cut the current governor box of the back and construct a new square box for the govenor weight box and rack control. Then if you wanted to represent a high horsepower model you would have to scratch build a JWAC to replace the intake manifold on the kit engine.All the other aspects of the engine are correct.

Edited May 11, 2014 by dad vader

[truckabilly]

Thanks a lot everone and especially Richard Markle. This is the info that I needed. I observed a lot of details in the internet pics myself but this info helps me get the things into the right context. Like I never knew that some of the turbocharged engines were not "aftercooled". That´s why I had been puzzeled by different "shapes" of aftercoolers. In reality the thing is, either there is an aftercooler or there is none. Thanks again, this really helps.

[plugger]

I'm not certain this question should go here but here goes , what do the numbers of say pete 359 or 379 indicate as well as some engine number designations cat 3406 and 3208 ? Thanks for listening

[Force]

You can read about the Peterbilt model numbers and what they stand for here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterbilt

The number designations on the engines I'm not completely sure about as the designation of the older Cat engines are somewhat confusing and only makes sence to Cat themselves.

But I think in this case the first 3 stands for Diesel engine, the second number, 2 or 4 in this case, stands for wich family group the engine belongs to and the last two numbers 06 and 08 is the number of cylinders.

Cat deviated from this numbering system when they introduced the 3116 and 3176 in the early 90's, first number was 3 for diesel engine, last number was 6 for number of cylinders and that's like before, but the middle 2 numbers were for displacement per cylinder (1,1 and 1.7 litres)...so it confused things even more.

But later in the 90's they changed the designation to the easier to understand C13, C15, C18 and so forth...the C stands for Cat and the number for displacement in litres...easy as pie.

Edited May 17, 2014 by Force

[truckabilly]

Another cool explanation, thanks Force.

I got a few pics of in-line 6 diesel CAT engine mounted in a locomotive. The label reads 3400 even though it´s obvious 3406. Could it be a generic label added to all CAT engines of 34XX family?

[Force]

Most likely...3400 is the common name for that engine series.

[scale trucker]

no 3400 was not avail in a truck ..looks like a 3406 but is not

[Force]

I don't know but after what I have seen it seems like 3400 is a series of Cat engines wich consists of the 3406, 3408 and 3412, at least that's what's coming up when you do a Google search on Cat 3400...I haven't found any specific engine called 3400.

Edited May 18, 2014 by Force

[scale trucker]

look up cat engine power for trains..yes 3400 series but that is got like 500 hp.and a electric throttle control

[Force]

Well Cat used their engines for different applications with different horsepower ratings, so if it's lets say a 3408 or C15 the on-highway, off road, train, marine and stationary engines are based on the same engine series.

So if the engine looks like a 3406 it is a 3406, a 3408 is a 3408 and a C15 is a C15 regardless of what it's used for...it's just different versions and some things may differ as the placing of the turbocharger, with or without aftercooler and so on.

Edited May 18, 2014 by Force

[truckabilly]

Yes, that´s what I had in mind. The 3400 refers to the whole engine family. No matter the application, the basics of the engines are the same. They can be adjusted and equipped to meet the customer´s needs. It´s a sort of kit. You take parts of this or that specification and place them where a customer wants them to have. The product label should state the exact model number. The label I have in the photo is for maintenance. And that can be applied to any engine of the 3400 family, be it 3406,3408 or 3412. That´s how I understand the thing.