"Cat Diesel" powered '94 Chev dually ? Need info?

[Pantera]

I am wondering if anyone has ever seen a Cat V8 Turbo Diesel in a Chev 1 ton Dually? I am looking at one and it is real nice and my buddy is all excited that it has a Turbo V8 Cat motor from the factory in it.

he says, it is the best Diesel motor that I could have for over the road use. Of course he is a over the road truck driver, so he feels that he really knows diesel motors. Of course after 26 years at it, I am not so sure that he not right.

This is a 118k mile unit and is clean as can be. I had my heart all set for a 2002-3 Dodge with the Cummings and a 6 speed but this is so clean that I am considering it instead. The price is only a little over $9,000 so that is also a big consideration after buying the Nova.

That is almost $17,000 less and it would also leave me more money to buy a new 5th wheel trailer. My current rig is a '78 454 Chev dually and a '78 Chapparal 32' dual axle trailer. I for sure want to get a triple for the safety of the extra axle.

Does anybody deal in these things and have a value that this truck might be worth?

I am a little concerned about the chev auto Tranny that it could give me trouble. I am sure that the motor can be repaired by any diesel shop anywhere in the country and with only 100k on it I would not expect to have too many problems with it for a year or so which is all I plan on using it. I am putting out too much money this year with the new garage and everything else I am trying to do.

I would like to try to try to buy this one so if you know anything about this special ordered,(COPO???) motor combo please let me know either good or bad? (Would this qualifity as a "Super Truck" I wonder..????)

Thanks to all, for your time on this mater.

Pantera

[Chevy454]

Unfortunately, not from the factory. In '94 the medium duty CAT diesel would have been the 3116, which was an I6. This replaced the 3208 somewhere around 1990(Moparts?), but it was a V8...but NEITHER of those went into a 1-ton.

I have heard of people transplanting 3208s into trucks, but I've personally never seen one. As for the auto tranny, being as the truck is a '94 it's gonna have the 4L80E, and I went through 2 of them in my '91...and this was PRIOR to my Paxton install. While the 4L80E is an electronic 400TH with overdrive, it's rediculously expensive to rebuild/replace if you trash it...trust me, 5 years ago when I went through it it was in the $2k neighborhood. I ended up going with a HD 4-speed with a gear splitter...

[Pantera]

Oh boy did I stir up something with this one.

Boys I think I may have found a Copo for sure...!!!!

This is dam sure a factory setup. just too slick to not be one. It is a V8 and that is for sure. It is dam sure big too as it is a tight fit in this one ton Dually.

It even has a Powered by Cat, metal plate on the side of the front doors. It was obviousley put there by Chev when it was new.

The original owner special ordered it from Chevrolet. He worked at a disel repair shop and you can tell this truck has been well maintained. In fact it is still new looking.

The blower is a Hofmier or something like that and it has a long alum tube leading from the right side of the motor to the intake in the center of the motor. There is a long alum box like a aircleaner down the center of the top of the motor with this tube coming into it from the right exaust manifold.

I will run by and take some pic of it and post it later for you to see.

[GaryH]

I can't blame some of you for being Cat biased. They have made great engines over the years. Their mid range series are well built & run well. But, if you look at the market share, you will see the Cummins outsells that market by a long shot. I think that says something. Getting into the heavy duty engine, class 8 truck series, we can get more power out of the '95 and up electronic Cat's till the '03 emissions engine came out. Now they have problems. I talked to a guy yesterday that has 240K on his and he has had 5 manifolds and 6 turbos replaced all damaged by exhaust heat. I wonder what the pistons look like by now? There are more but I won't get into that here.

As far as the older, non computerized, heavy duty class 8 truck engines go, I'll take a Cummins. I have many 400's out there running well over 1000HP and have been out there like that for years. Ok, I'll get off my soap box now. It's the old Mopar, Ford, GM debate of the diesel market.

Larry, does this thing have a turbo or a blower? It seems real odd GM would use the competitions product. What year is it? If it's older they would have owned Detroit back then and I could see them sticking a V8 Detroit in there. I guess the stickers say it all though. Get the model number and let us know what it is. Hopefully it's an Allison trans. They are bullet proof

Do your homework too. If it's a 3208 I don't know what parts availability is like. I haven't worked on one of those for years. I do know the old Cummins V engines are almost impossible to get parts for and when you do get them you pay a big buck. I'm looking forward to seeing the pics!

[Chevy454]

Larry:

The "Powered by CAT" tag is a GM dealer item, BUT it is for the medium duty (TopKick, Kodiak, & 6500+) trucks...that emblem is on our TopKick. In fact, the medium duty trucks use the same cab as the regular 1/2 and up pickup trucks, which is how our TopKick became a crew cab. And, being a '94, GM would have been using the 3116 CAT by then (it replaced the 3208 around '90? in the GM medium duty trucks).

BUT, if you can come up with a window sticker or something, then I'd love to see it! As in the world of musclecars, I should never say never...

[BUIZILLA]

I'd REALLY like to see a picture of this truck and also one of the engine installation. I do this for a living and this setup is complete news to me...

J

[Pantera]

Guys I think I have egg on my face on this one? I think we got excited by the sticker because it looked like it belonged on there. After looking at it in the daylight I can see the chev looking valvecovers down under all that mess.

Here are some pic's and I apoligize for getting everybody excited. The salesman it appears didn't know what he was talking about. I for dam sure didn't but then that is why I was using one of the best resourses I know of and that is this great bunch of guys that love this forum.

So thanks in advance and here is the motor.

[Pantera]

Turbo

[GaryH]

Which Cat is it? The only V8 I can think of would be a 3208 and that one would have to be really shoe horned in there. They are big. Find out the model number, how many miles are on the engine itself, if it's been properly maintained including the proper coolant additive and cooling system maint. etc. The V8's are smooth but hard to get the torque of the inline 6. Fuel mileage may not be as good either. It depends on which Cat it is.

[Norm reynolds]

If it’s a cat it will most likely come with a Allison tranny
We had them in our fleet put over 300.000 miles and still running strong
I would take a cat V8 over a cummings any day and if it has the Allison trans you
Cant get any better than that That cat WILL out run the cummings all day long I know we had both of them