date: sometime in 1992
to: [email protected]
subject: Dave's Reference Library, take 1

  I've been going back to the books lately to check my details before 
I start machining and welding on my newest project.  In the course of 
this I have been rereading some stuff from cover to cover.  Lots of 
these books I haven't looked at for six or seven years, so I've been 
re-forming opinions on them.  Since there have been some questions 
concerning basic reference material here, I've summarized my thoughts 
below. 

  My library is much larger than this, of course.  These are just the 
ones I've looked through lately. 


           ====== Dave's Automotive Reference Library ======


"Race Car Engineering and Mechanics - 3rd ed."
Paul Van Valkenburgh, HPBooks, 1976, 1986, 1992  ($16.99)

  With a name like that, I expected a lot.  Instead, I'd like to 
strangle the author slowly.  There's all the usual basic material on 
roll centers and the like.  The author was evidently one of the very 
first to play with onboard instrumentation systems, but he tells us 
little about them.  He continually refers to SAE papers without 
telling the paper number or title.  He'll start to talk about 
something really interesting, then blow it off with "however, that 
exceeds the scope of this book."  There's plenty of good information 
in there, but you have to read carefully to find it.


"Braking of Road Vehicles"
T.P. Newcomb and R.T. Spurr, Robert Bentley, 1969

  This book isn't arranged particularly well, nor is it easy to read, 
but it covers the basic thermodynamics of braking systems quite well.
It covers some stuff Puhn's "Brake Handbook" glosses over, but unless 
you're really, really into brakes, you probably won't have much use 
for this one.


"Streamlining and Car Aerodynamics"
Jan P. Norbye, TAB Books, 1977   ($3.95)

  This is a good introduction to automotive aerodynamics.  No math, 
but lots of photos, charts, and general information.  Probably worth 
reading even if you've had some background in aeronautic stuff.


"Tractors and Their Power Units, 2nd Edition"
The Ferguson Foundation, John Wiley & Sons, 1952, 1963

  Don't laugh.  These are the people who developed the "silly putty"
center positrac used in the Jensen FF and the early 4WD Shelby and 
Lotus Indy cars.  They know their stuff.  This book covers the 
chemistry of combustion, lots of stuff on lubricants, magnetic theory 
and spark ignition, alternate fuels, balancing, coolants and 
corrosion, and rafts of the kind of stuff most books simply blow off.  
It's thirty years old, but there's probably a new version out 
somewhere.  It'd be well worth your time to try to find it.


"Motorcycle Chassis Design - The Theory and Practice"
Tony Foale and Vic Willoughby, Osprey Publishing, 1984  (L 6.95)

  This is one of the very few texts on motorcycle chassis and 
suspension.  Foale cribbed an awful lot from Smith's "Motorcycle 
Engineering", but there's enough original material to make it useful.


"Tuning Suspension and Brakes" - Speedsport Tuning Companion 3
Martyn Watkins, Speedsport Motobooks, 1973  (L 1.95)

  This is basically a bound pamphlet, and it's... well, basic.  Basic 
enough it's not likely to be of any use to anyone who knows the 
difference between a steering wheel and a tire.  Forget it. 


"Racing and Sports Car Chassis Design"
Michael Costin and David Phipps, Robert Bentley, 1961, 1980  ($14.95)

  Michael Costin is the "Cos" of Cosworth.  He's been around a long 
time. You'd think this would be a good book, but practically any basic 
engineering text would be more useful.  Much of the information is 
very trivial, presented in a long-winded fashion.  To show you how 
shallow the book is, it barely mentions the subject of torsional 
stiffness, and gives no details at all.  Worth flipping through if you 
can borrow it, but not worth buying. 


"Petersen's Basic Chassis, Suspension, & Brakes"  (3rd edition)
Jay Storer, editor, Petersen Publications, 1974  ($1.97)

  This is one of those cheap 8.5x11" paperbacks put out by the people 
who do Hot Rod Magazine.  The majority of the material is taken up 
with high-school-level stuff like "this is how a disc brake works" or 
"basic suspension alignment."  Wedged in the cracks are some very, 
very good bits on everything from chassis design to suspension 
geometry. You have to dig to find the good stuff, but it's well worth 
the effort, particularly for the price of the book.  Lots of 
illustrations, mostly small, but usually relevant and interesting, 
which isn't always the case with this sort of book.  Buy it. 


"New Directions in Suspension Design - Making the Fast Car Faster"
Colin Campbell, Robert Bentley, 1981

  This is actually a basic book on suspensions.  You won't see much of 
interest in here if you've read much on the subject.  It does have a 
long and detailed section on the Citroen hydraulic suspension, though. 


"The Sports Car - Its Design and Performance"
Colin Campbell, Robert Bentley, 1978

  This is a fair introductory text on high performance cars.  It 
covers engines, transmissions, suspension, etc, with in-depth coverage 
of some selected cars.  It's highly slanted to the "the Brits did it 
all first" line, but the author throws in lots of interesting factoids 
that make the book worth purchasing, or at least reading. 


"Racing Car Design and Development"
Len Terry and Alan Baker, Robert Bentley, 1973

  This is another misleading book.  It's actually a sort of biography 
of Len Terry's early experiences in designing cars, with a smattering 
of odds and ends of car design.  Terry worked with Colin Chapman, 
Carroll Shelby, Dan Gurney, and others, but remains infuriatingly 
vague about details.  Reading between the lines, I got the impression 
Terry was rather hard to get along with and pissed people off.  There 
are almost no details of Terry's later cars.  The book is only barely 
worth purchasing. 


"Automotive Technology Series Volume I - Steering, Suspension, and 
Tyres" J.G. Giles, editor,  Iliffe Books, 1968 (UK) 

  This is a collection of essays from British technical journals.  
It's not much use as a general design guide, but it has some very 
interesting sections on air suspension, dual axle vehicles, rubber 
springs (that chapter is written by Alec Moulton) and more.  Probably 
not useful unless you're into air or rubber springs, and then it'd be 
indispensable. 


"The Car And Its Wheels - A Guide To Modern Suspension Systems"
Jan P. Norbye, TAB Books 1980     $9.95 (1980 price)

  This is a TAB book, which means it's chock-full of typographic 
errors, sentence fragments, inverted or miscaptioned pictures, and the 
like. It's also an excellent reference for all types of automotive 
suspension systems.  The basic information - caster, camber, roll 
centers, and the like - is pretty much like any other suspension book, 
but Norbye's throwaway comments make it worthwhile - odd figures and 
factoids you can't find anywhere else.  Norbye also covers European 
oddities and goes into detail on the history of various systems.  
Don't be put off by TAB's slipshod publishing - this book really needs 
to be on your shelf.  It's an excellent companion for Puhn's "How to 
Make Your Car Handle." 


"Vehicle Body Layout And Analysis"
John Fenton, Mechanical Engineering Publications
(available through SAE) 1980 - L19.50, or about $35 1980 dollars

  This book purports to be a design manual for unit chassis. 
Unfortunately it's written in a British version of Intermediate 
Obfuscese; one of the Educational dialects.  The book is full of 
illustrations and formulas.  Alas, the illustrations are pretty 
generic (most are identical to Costin & Phipps) and the formulas are 
usually missing minutiae like what the variables stand for. If you can 
borrow it from a library it might be worth looking through, but don't 
waste your money. 


"Advanced Race Car Suspension and Development"
Steve Smith, Steve Smith Autosports Publications, 1974

  This is a home-published book.  It's a thin paperback; the text 
looks like it was photocopied off typewritten pages, the illustrations 
range from excellent to crummy.  It's also quite old and primarily 
concerned with NASCAR type heavy metal.  Buy it.  Think of it as a 
miniaturized handbook of suspension design.  This book doesn't cover 
everything, but what it covers it does well.  The chapter on how to 
fix bump steer is worth the whole price of the book. 


"The Complete Handbook of Automotive Power Trains"
Jan P. Norbye, TAB Books, 1981  ($9.95)

  This book is loaded with information, photos, anecdotes, and 
history.  There isn't any hard design information, but if you aspire 
to doing your own engine someday, you need this book.  It covers lots 
of weird-Alice stuff, plus the usual Norbye factoids.  Worth buying 
just for interesting reading, even if you're not an enginehead.


"Design and Tuning of Competition Engines, 6th Ed."
Philip H. Smith, Robert Bentley, 1954, 1977

  This is interesting reading, but don't expect to be able to design 
an engine from what you get here.  Some of the author's theory is a 
little shaky, and he's heavily biased toward the True Brit Way, and 
some of the stuff is trivial or obsolete, but if you're starting from 
the beginning it's not a bad book.


"How to Make Your Car Handle"
Fred Puhn, HPBooks, 1976, 1981

  This is your basic reference for suspension design and setup.  If 
you can only afford one book, this is it.  It's not the ultimate 
reference, but it packs the most suspension information into one book. 
There's no excuse not to have it. 


"Ford Performance"
Larry Schreib, S-A Design, 1979, $10.95

  This book describes the Ford V8s through '79, except for the 
flathead and Y-block.  Lots of general information, photos, and 
dimensions.  Much of it is cribbed from old Ford service bulletins and 
Muscle Parts manuals, but you can't get those any more.  Worthwhile 
for Ford fans, not much good for anyone else.


"Theory and Practice of Cylinder Head Modification"
David Vizard, Speedsport Motobooks, 1971

  This book is primarily oriented to porting Mini and Cortina motors.  
It has some handy port templates in the back.  Unless you're porting 
one of these engines you probably don't want this book.


"Fundamentals of Automotive Engine Balance"
W. Thomson, Mechanical Engineering Publications, 1978  (UK)

  This book covers the basics of automotive engine balance fairly 
well.  Unfortunately, it doesn't agree with my other sources, but 
that's OK, none of them agree with each other anyway.  The book is 
quite readable.  I would have preferred both a little more theory and 
a little more hands-on stuff, but it's worth reading anyway.


"The Complete Handbook of Front Wheel Drive Cars"
Jan P. Norbye, TAB Books, 1979  ($9.95)

  The author pushes FWD pretty hard, but in the usual Norbye style 
there's a ton of incidental information and some drawings and photos 
you won't find anywhere else.  Worth buying and reading even if you 
could care less about cars that drive the wrong set of wheels.  Lots 
of history, technical details, and general design information.


"Carburetors & Carburetion"
Walter B. Larew, Chilton's Automotive Series, 1967

  Written by a retired Army general, this isn't a "how carburetors 
work" book - it's a book on how to *design* carburetors.  I've never 
seen anything like it.  The information is quite detailed, and even if 
you never decide to whittle your own carb out of billet, it'll help 
you set up an ordinary carburetor.


"The Scientific Design of Exhaust and Intake Systems - 3rd Ed."
Philip H. Smith and John C. Morrison, Robert Bentley, 1962, 1971

  You probably won't find much useful information here, unless you 
like to look at antique vacuum-tube pressure testing equipment.  The 
authors were primarily concerned with el cheapo old engines with 
siamsed ports and single carburetors.  There are no formulas or good 
information for header design, and little other than the obvious for 
anything.  Probably worth your time to flip through if you come across 
a copy; not worth much time spent trying to find a copy.



*** Driving ***********************************************************

  I have an unflattering opinion of most driving books.  This opinion 
is probably not justifiable considering my lack of success as a 
driver. 


"Winning Autocross and Solo II Competition - The Art and the Science" 
Richard Turner, J.B. Miles, National Academy of Professional Driving, 
1977 

  The sections on "how to drive" are OK.  Don't pay any attention to 
the authors' blithering about engines.  I would have liked to have 
seen more of the technical stuff implied by the second half of the 
title, but the book does a fair job on the nontechnical stuff.  Not
worth much - I gave my copy away.



*** Books referenced by other books.  I haven't seen any of these, ***
*** but noted them in case anyone else remembers and has comments. ***

"Automatic Transmissions"
Walter B. Larew, Chilton's Automotive Series, mid'60s

"Vehicle Body Engineering"
J. Pawlowski, Business Books, 1969  (UK)

"Vehicle Body Construction And Design"
Giles, Iliffe Books, 1970  (UK)
  Iliffe Books Ltd.               Iliffe Books Ltd.
  42 Russell Square       or      Dorset House
  London W.C.1                    Stamford Street
                                  London S.E.1

"Handbook Of Automotive Design Analysis"
John Fenton, Business Books Ltd.    (UK)
this is the author of "Vehicle Body Layout And Analysis"  (reviewed above)

"The Motor Vehicle, 8th Ed."
'A textbook for students, draughtsmen and owner-drivers.'  K.Newton et.al.,
authors.  713pp, 647 illustrations

"Automobile Tyres"
L.J.K. Setright, Chapman & Hall, London 1972

"Design of Racing Sports Cars"
Colin Campbell, Robert Bentley


** Comments from other sources *************************************

from the hotrod list, [email protected] (jeff armfield)

2. "Class Notes on Vehicle Dynamics" - David Cole, University of
    Michigan.

    Cole is now more politically involved in the auto business than he
    once was, but these notes get right down to the nuts and bolts and
    math behind vehicle handling and suspensions. The version I have is
    one I had when I was at Michelin. There is supposedly a new, updated
    version out. These can be had by calling the University of Michigan
    bookstore. Or if someone wants a copy of my old version, contact me
    by e-mail and I can work something out.

3. "New Directions in Suspension Design" - Colin Campbell

    This is a good book that tends to be both mathematical and
    application oriented at the same time. He does a nice analysis
    of the Porsche 928.

There's a new book on vehicle dynamics by Thonas Gillespie that SAE
is pushing very hard. It looks like decent book but I haven't
actually seen a copy yet.



from the hotrod list: emory!sierra.com!vcook (Victor Cook)

Another excellent book on suspensions is "The Doorslammer Chassis
Manual" by Dave Morgan. Available thru Jegs and Summit for about
$30. Best money I've spent in a long time. It tends to focus on
straight line racing somewhat, but the math and theory applies to
other disciplines as well.


from the hotrod list: [email protected] (John De Armond)

Hey, there you go!  Call up either Haltech or Electromotive and buy the
manual that goes with their systems.  Both sell them separately.
Either is a tutorial on how to adapt an engine to FI and the necessary
calculations.  IMHO Electromotive's docs are more informative, if not
a bit deeper.


from the hotrod list:  [email protected] (Ron Nash)

Chilton makes a good manual that lists engine codes and what they mean
in the Part No. 7768 "Fuel Injection & Electronic Engine Controls 1984-88"
book.

Not really- are you doing it right? Go get this great book from Chiltons-
called "Engine Management Computers - Domestic Cars" or something like
that. It's a 1" thick 8.5x11 book w/a black cover and costs about $20.
Before I got my Service Manual (which I had to mass photocopy cuz of
Ford's documentation policy), this was the best book out there. GM and
MoPar folks should get it, too. 

source:   "COMPUTERIZED ENGINE CONTROLS, SECOND EDITION", Dick. H King,
Delmar Publishers Inc,  1989,  p. 247

Ref:
Vorum P. C. ``Short Pipe Manifold Design for Four-Stroke
Engines: Part II", Trans of ACME, vol. 102, Oct 1980.
 
Yoshiaki Ohmori and Keiji Kusaka, ``Fuel Injection
System for Motorcycles", Society of Automotive
Engineering: Paper Number 852233, 1985.
 
F. Bruce Gerhard, Jr. ``Advanced Microcomputer for
Engine Control", Society of Automotive Engineering:
Paper Number 860484, 1986.
 
Dietrich E. Bergfried, Ulrich Mayer, Richard Schleupen,
and Peter Werner, ``Engine Management Systems in Hydrid
Technology", Society of Automotive Engineering: Paper
Number 860593, 1986.
 
Naoki Tomisawa, ``Development of a High-Speed High-
Precision Learning Control System of the Engine
Control", Society of Automotive Engineering: Paper
Number 86594, 1986.

Steward P. Prince, ``A Computer-Controlled Electronic
Fuel Injection System," University of Texas Arlington -
MS thesis, 1987.

Naoki Tomisawa and Shuichi Toki, ``Trends in Electronic
Engin Control and Development of Optimum
Microcomputers", Society of Automotive Engineering:
Paper Number 880136, 1988.
 
Prabhas Kejriwal and Robin Blanton, ``Six Cylinder EFI
Control Using a Low-Cost Microcontroller and the
Universal Pulse Processor IC," Society of Automotive
Engineering: Paper Number 890765, 1989.
 
Charles O. Probst, ``Bosch Fuel Injection & Engine
Management," ISBN 0-8376-0300-5, Robert Bently, Inc.,
Publishers, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1989.


Book: Turbocharging and Turbochargers
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
ISBN 0 85298 719 6
1990, May 22-24 Fourth Congress on Turbochargers


Newsgroups: rec.autos.tech
Subject: Turbocharging textbook wanted
From: [email protected] (Tom Leone)
Date: 26 Mar 1993 20:11:03 GMT

I would like to purchase a copy of the textbook,
"Turbocharging the Internal Combustion Engine"
by N. Watson and M. S. Janota.
 
It was first published in 1982 by The Macmillan Press Ltd.,
London and Basingstoke.  It was also published in the USA
by Wiley-Interscience Division of John Wiley and Sons, NY.
The ISBN is 0 471-87072-2.
 
I checked with the publishers, and it is out of print.
I checked my local used bookstores, and they don't carry
it.  If anyone has a copy or can locate one for me, I am
willing to pay $60 for one in good condition.
 
I am also open to suggestions for other good textbooks on
turbocharging.
 
Thank you,
Tom Leone