C15 what motor Serial numbers can you upgrade?

Yes you are being hasty a PROPERLY tuned Acert will run/pull circles around most 6-NZ's and 7CZ's. BXS is the easiest, mxs and nxs takes a extra couple minor changes. Most '07's are NXS/MXS. '08's(any Cat with DPF) and up can be done, but will get kind of spendy. In stock form most(but not all) of the hype is justified. Just my 0.02...

 

What he said and note words capitalized. To me the word tuned means so much more than adding a file in ECM. Its getting all aspects of the engine to optimum performance.

 

Hmmmmm mine was putting 585 to the wheels with nothing but Injector #s and trim changed and it was bought as a 435/475 the one I have now I have done a little bit more too.

 

What is the progression of these engines in the higher HP? 6NZ,MBN,BXS.....? Would 04s, 05s, and 06s likely be BXS engines? Would 3-4k get a BXS properly tuned? Thanks.

 

I think bxs only two years after mbn.

 

BXS for 04-05
MXS for 05-06
NXS for 06-07
SDP for 08+

 

I believe Oscar is correct on the progression. Short answer to your other question is yes 3-4k will get a BXS ECM properly tuned with change. But I think this is a good place to point out that a big part getting exactly what you are looking for is making sure that your engine is in top shelf repair BEFORE the tune. Putting a properly tuned ECM on an "in spec" engine will only compound any short comings it currently has, and if left unattended long enough will suffer major to catastrophic failure. Unfortunately the tuner usually gets most if not all of the blame. And before anyone says mine has a brand new gold kit installed by Cat themselves, all that says to me is that you have 6 new pistons and liners, a new set of bearings and what ever else they put in a gold kit(and paid 2-3 times too much for the labor).When I said "top shelf repair" that means the overhead set "EXACLTY" right, not just "within spec or tolerance". While you are under the valve covers you might as well take a good hard look at the wiring harness, 6-700,000 miles seems to be the magic # where failures begin to show themselves, I know they sell "repair" kits but after buying and replacing 3 of these "kits" myself I realized that the entire harness has been subjected to the same heat and oil soak conditions(DUH), so I chose to completely replace both of the harness'. Now on to the exhaust, 0 leaks, and I mean 0. Not 1 or 2%, not "it that ain't that bad", not "I'll fix it if it gets any worse", I mean 0, do not over look the manifold, MY experience is Acert manifolds are crap brand new and just get worse with age. Same for the CAC and all the plumbing into and out of it. It's best to at least witness someone doing this test if you can't/won't do it yourself. I can't tell you how many hundreds of posts on this forum have said "I had it checked it's within specs". My first question at this point is whose "specs", Cat's? Please someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't "Cat specs" why we are having this conversation to begin with? My next question is did you pressure test the plumbing also? This almost always gets me the deer in the headlight look, and some lame excuse/reason why they can't/don't do that. My next question starts the most arguments/debates including on here, but when someone says that they pressurized the CAC to 30 psi and it leaked less than 5 psi in 15 min, I ask how does that apply/equate to my engine that is making 50-60 psi? Again just MY way thinking, 0 leaks, 0 tolerance. Once all of this is in order, now you are ready for a "tuned" ECM, a true custom tuner will ask you a bunch of questions about your application/expectations, a 4 axle truck pulling a 5 axle RGN with 140,000 lbs on the deck across Mont Eagle has different needs than a 3 axle day-cab pulling a dedicated tanker across town that is empty 50% of the time. There are several quality tuners out there, you need to research them and decide which one is best for you, what is best for you is not necessarily going to be best for me. ECM tunes fall under the old adage "you get what you pay for", I am NOT saying the higher the price the better the tune, all I'm saying is anybody expecting a $200.00 tune to perform the same as a $2000.00 tune is going to sadly disappointed. Just my $0.02....

 

Thats what I been trying to say all along. Get the engine right, then tune ECM. It falls on deaf ears.

 

Well said.

They hear it, but its not what they want to hear. Most people just want to throw a very expensive Band-Aid on a problem and hope it takes care of the problems that they have been having.

 

Run the overhead, properly
New wiring harnesses under valve covers
Seal up exhaust, likely including replacing the manifold
Seal up CAC

Is this all stuff, with the possible exception of replacing the manifold, that would likely need to be done to a 6NZ as well, so shouldn't count against an Acert engine when comparing them?