Best automotive engine mechanics books according to redditors

here's a couple of kindle books for examples... there's plenty of online books on the subject. these are a place to start. 1 and 2

check the online resources at your local library too. they often have books you can check out to your computer, if you don't have time to look through the shelves. there are a lot of web sites with free ebooks too.

i personally wouldn't tune for knock, the power should be a bell curve so as you hone in on the best settings power should rise then fall after maximum power is reached, then start to drop off before it knocks.

so that is what i'd tune for. at worst knock tuning would be a disaster on some engines, and on others you're likely loosing power . at the dyno i've often seen people say tune to knock then back off a whatever a good number/% they've heard is.

you have to know a lot of about the math of specific engine you're tuning for to do proper calcs to get you base maps that are close, so since not all that is available, VE being the most useful, it often does become iterative and you just get a feel for it.

dynos aren't that complex, they just measure torque. the manual for them usually has the operation procedure in them, or the rep shows you. but basically you just do a pull on it while it measures rpm/tq and AFR then it plots an HP/TQ graph usually with some compensation for loss, or which conversion factor to use, SAE etc (where a lot of the online battles take place on dyno figures)

i prefer dynapak's myself, mostly since theyre a lot safer and i don't walk over the roller when concentrating on the laptop, and i've felt they're more controllable/repeatable but YMMV

https://www.dynomitedynamometer.com/dyno-dynamometer-article.htm has a good overview of the different styles.

these are some of the books i have

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0837603005

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470057572

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0837611083 (general motronic overview)

https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-Automotive-Handbook-Robert-GmbH/dp/0837617324

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0837615410

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1932494421 good starter book

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0760315825

https://www.amazon.com/Auto-Math-Handbook-HP1554-Calculations (updated ver)

Carbed fox body mustang ex-owner here: The early carbed mustangs were choked to death with vacuum tubes, in fact see my user name kurby-car to represent my vacuum powered 1983 mustang 5.0. I did a fuel injection conversion to a early 90's t-bird fuel injection system and the car ran better but the prehistoric EFI system was a PITA to work with. I studied early Ford fuel injection for years while I owned that car using this book: https://www.amazon.com/Ford-Injection-Electronic-Engine-Control/dp/0837603013
Even though the EFI system had a learning curve it was better than dealing with the 3 miles of vacuum tubing required to keep that 5.0 running on a carb.

My advice: Unless you are hot rodding don't ever buy a car older than 1997. the automotive dark ages started in the mid-70's and lasted until about 1997 when OBDII was standardized.

Oh man, I grew up in VT, I would actually take you up on that if I was still in the northeast. A buddy of mine works for a race shop up there, does a lot of Porsche and D Sports Racer type stuff. Fun city and I know a girl up there who's definitely worth the trip on her own merits. Who knows, maybe I'll message you about that someday :)

If you want some further reading, I recommend checking out A Graham Bell's Four Stroke Performance Tuning then Gordon Blair's Design and Simulation of Four Stroke Engines. Those two really focus on combustion and intake/exhaust work, which is the bread and butter of the aftermarket world, but also get into some of the fun theoretical stuff on mean effective pressure and volumetric characterizing. Stone's Introduction to Internal Combustion Engines is a nice whole-system look at the engine from an engineers standpoint and will be a bit more general, I haven't been through it in as much detail as the other two but it has a lot more mechanical information on the rotating assembly and the like.

Tip: I have heard unsubstantiated rumors that I can neither confirm nor deny that some or all of these books are available digitally on the seedier side of the web. I would advise keeping your eyes open for cheap paper copies though, as I find they make great reference books and they're more palatable off the screen.

Well they are not really that complex at that scale but I'm sure if you wanted you could find any number of books on the subject like the following.

http://www.amazon.com/Small-Engine-Repair-Up-20/dp/0801983258

Small Engine Repair Up to 20 Hp

Start tearing them down and building them up. Not a lot to it, I've been working on them since I was 12.

I was for the most part doing other stuff in the shop but when I was over there it was pretty sweet. The coolest thing about this set up is that when they bar it over (turn the crank by hand) everything works. We had it cut so that you could see everything work.

As far as learning more I would just use wikipedia or how stuff works has a pretty good basic concept of two strokes. But if you have the money and wish to learn more there are a lot of books out there that are very helpful. I used a similar edition to this in school. You don't have to buy it you can thumb through it and get a pretty good understanding.

Hope that helps!

http://www.amazon.com/Small-Engine-Repair-step---step/dp/158923121X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404313106&sr=1-3

I'd just go with a Haynes or Chilton manual.

https://www.amazon.com/Chevrolet-Vans-Haynes-Repair-Manuals/dp/1563921979

If you try eBay you might find one for your particular van, but I always liked the Haynes and Chilton manuals over the official factory service manuals.

I've used the test prep books from Delmar. You can buy them online, or check you local library.

https://www.amazon.com/ASE-Test-Preparation-Engine-Learnings/dp/1111127034

Modern Diesel Technology: Light Duty Diesels

Not hard at all. Can be done with basic tools. The hardest part was getting it into the truck.

The Master rebuild kit cost me about $650 and about $400 for the machine work. Assembled the motor outside in my shed.

I HIGHLY recommend getting yourself a copy of this book before you try and tackle the job. Read it through to get yourself mentally prepared. It covers every single thing you'll need to do, or may encounter when you rebuild a 5.2/5.9 Magnum.

Oh, that's great! Thanks a lot! I was reading this, but that's just engine.

http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Vehicle-Dynamics-Premiere-Books/dp/1560911999/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425872946&sr=8-1&keywords=1560911999

http://www.amazon.com/Engineering-Fundamentals-Internal-Combustion-Engine/dp/0131405705/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425872963&sr=8-1&keywords=0131405705

These are the two books I could find that professors at Embry-Riddle, for the high performance vehicle design option of mechanical engineering, use. Im sure there are others, but i dont know where to find them as im not a mechanical engineering student. I'd say go to:
http://www.neebo.com/embry-riddle-aeronautical-university-daytona/textbooks

And search around for courses that relate to your interest and find the books they require

Here you go.

http://www.amazon.com/Rebuild-4-6-5-4-Liter-Ford-Engines/dp/1613250436

IF you decide to essay the rebuild yourself, I recommend THIS manual which is an all-in-one resource and covers operating theory, tools and techniques and walks you through the rebuild. It has plenty of pictures and diagrams and is aimed at those with little or no experience. I think it's out of print now, but apparently Amazon has a few copies left. The information available on the net is good, of course, but this is something you can have open on your workbench without fear of getting gasoline on your computer.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Rebuild-Small-Block-Mopar-Engines/dp/0895861283

http://www.amazon.com/Small-Block-Mopar-Engines-Present-273-318-340-360/dp/0895864797

The second link is fantastic.

Pick up a mechanic's textbook. Or something like this: https://www.amazon.ca/Two-Stroke-Engine-Repair-Maintenance-Dempsey/dp/0071625399#customerReviews

And be careful - there are a lot of well intention people out there who pro's classify as 'knows enough to be dangerous'. Take advice / learn from the wrong person and things will go wrong very quickly.

Cheers & gl :)

S

I took a course on Internal Combustion Engines.

I dont know what part of automotive you'll be working on. But if you want to learn about engines, we used This Book and it was a good resource.

http://www.amazon.com/Modify-Management-Systems-Motorbooks-Workshop/dp/0760315825/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1300143812&sr=1-3


this is another good book. it helped me figure out my boost leak issue and adjusting my apexi safc unit. get a boost guage and wide band reader to start. good luck!

It would be pointless (and inaccurate) to not include the pump work from the additional turbo when finding the thermal efficiency of a turbocharged engine.

https://www.amazon.com/Engineering-Fundamentals-Internal-Combustion-Engine/dp/0131405705

My source.

I mean every book I've read on engine design or even fundamental theory behind combustion refers to ice when it comes to vehicles. A few stick with saying internal combustion engine but that's a mouthful

Edit: This book, originally published in the 90s, often uses the term ICE and is one of the most commonly used books for basics of engines. It certainly wasn't the first to use the term, nor will it be the last. The term internal combustion engine started when they were first being developed as a way to distinguish them from earlier heat engines which either used external combustion or some other heat source.