Gaining more knowledge on cars

[jamiedennick123]

Right, so ive been thinking abit lately and id like to get alot more knowledge behind me of just general tuning as such. This can be anything from suspension setup to headwork, etc.

Im currently building a saxo turbo, ive owned the car for 6 years now and just want to turn it into something abit more special. When ive got abit of time on my hands when im on the net, i find myself looking on the same forums at the same stuff, i occasionally have a look on a few other forums like MLR, edition38, etc.

If anyone knows of some good links, forums and so on where i can learn more about headwork, understanding abit more on mapping, setting up suspension properly, driving tecniques, etc.

Jamie

[chrisjp4]

4 stroke performance tuning is a good book, and a good start! It's quite old now & more suited to N/A builds but an amzing book all the same!

Here's a preveiw of it - http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=O...bodies&f=false

You can buy it for £17 online, you'll learn a lot like that. A.Graham Bell is a good author for mechanical book's. If you've got the patience to sit down & study books like that you'll learn a lot! More than anyone could ever tell you online!

Good luck!

Chris

[richair]

Another shout for Graham Bell's books here! I have both the 4 Stoke Performance and the Forced Induction books and they're a great read and very easy to understand! There's a load of great info on the web, particularly amongst the likes of the peugeot, Honda and Vw circles. However there's also a load of tosh so make sure your BS filter is well tuned

But above all you learn by doing, so don't be afraid to have a go! Be patient, buy the right tools and think about a job carefully before and whilst you're doing it and you'll be fine. Just be prepared for a few obsessive tendencies and sleepless nights, or is that just me!?..

[jamiedennick123]

Ive had a look at his books, seen there a couple of those 4 stroke engine tuning books. Whats the difference? I think i may pester the mrs for them for christmas lol.

Ive read a few long posts of sandys about certain stuff which are interesting and helpful.

[chrisjp4]

I'm like that too, i get addicted to things & can't stop!lol All his book are good, there's loads & loads out there if you don't mind reading/studying.

I love it me i'd rather read a book any day than have some petty teacher tell me what to do, maybe that's just me. Get yourself some book & a engine to rebuild. Haven't you learnt a lot from boosting your car or did you pay for it?

Chris

The difference is the ages in the books, you can preveiw most online then decide which to buy. The green one i linked is the best IMO.

[jamiedennick123]

Ive done it all myself, except abit of help on bolting the box to engine and lifting it in and bolting it in. So ive done a fair bit on my own which has been a good learning curve for me. I plan on taking it as far as i can myself and then getting it checked by someone local to me before its ready to map so i kmow its ready and isnt going to waste time when i take it for mapping. I am on abit of a budget now i have a house and a child but ive still used good parts, its just taken abit longer to do.

Ive got my old engine if i want to mess around with that although i wanted to make a coffee table from it haha. Id like to use the head to maybe build a fancy head for my forged lump with uprated valves, etc.

[richair]

Sounds like you're already pretty handy so you've got nothing to worry about! Have a good read and get stuck in.

Funnily enough I'm currently making a coffee table out of an old MFZ block

[jamiedennick123]

I try to do what i can, im not stupid which helps lol. I just need to build up my knowledge and confidence on stuff.

Got any pictures of the table so far?

Also just found this-
http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/perfor...mance-handbook

The forced induction performance tuning book seems sold out at most places and expensive (£100) used and that would of been the most ideal for me ATM.

[richair]

Jeez! I didn't realise it was out of print, I've had my copy quite a long time now. I'd best look after it!..

The book on demon thieves is probably worth a punt, but see if you can find any reviews or recommendations though...

A bit of intelligence and comon sense is half the battle mate I look forward to seeing some projects

No pics of the table yet, although I've now finished cleaning and lacquering the block so I need to weld up some legs when I get a spare hour or so. I'll post details up on here though when its done!

Rich

[jamiedennick123]

I will get a few pictures up, so may not like it as it aint a rallye nor a screaming itb engine haha. I did originally plan to stick with N/A.

I will have a read up and try find some good books inc the ones suggested. There was also this one, not too sure. Might be good if can find it cheaper-
http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/perfor...lders-handbook

I need to decide if a turbocharging book like the one above which would help me progress the car further in the future of get one of the 4 stroke ones as id like to get to know more about headwork and so on.

Jamie

[jamiedennick123]

So i got a few book ordered to gain some more info on tuning and so on.

So i got- four stroke performance tuning edition 4, turbo- real world high performance turbocharger systems, haynes trackday manual.

[chrisjp4]

That one from DT you quoted above wouldn't be suitable judging by the front cover, looks to be big block chevy's & American V8's.

Is it a Graham bell book? Most of his a v.very good, especially the older 4 stroke performance tuning, that's what made me get into throttle bodies & the noise obviously! If you've got a boosted build you'd be better off with forced induction book's obviously.

DT do have some good book's if you look in the back of their catalog, quite over priced though! There's not much, if anything wrote up on Peugeot engine's, not that i've found but parts & engine's are so cheap i learned with trial & error & a good old Haynes manual really.

You need to get yourself friend's with a local engineering firm, you'll have all the equipment you need then.

Chris

[jamiedennick123]

I am a engineer, only thing is what i do work wise is quite limited as our boss isnt one for showing others his skills how he learnt!! And what we do is very specific service rather than doing a whole rang of things but i do know the basics and then some.

I may clear out my shed abit and get a engine stand and strip my old engine down (once ive got the car running). What sort of costs would it be to buy all the basics to rebuild a block? My current engine i bought already built (beaniemoo's old one).

[chrisjp4]

Sounds like you need a new boss then! Least you've got access to tool's you may require. I'm not familiar with beanimoo's old engine? I thought it went bang & wasn't forged?

I'd say about £300 for new seals, gaskets & bearings from Pug trade. Engine stand will be a pain unless your shed is big enough, i'd much prefer a decent work bench & put the engine on bricks. Unless you can stand a engine crane in your shed it'd be a pain to get onto a stand, you can do it sideway's & lift it up onto it's wheels, in the mean time your back been pulled out.lol Or 2 strong mate's to hold it onto the stand while you bolt it down, but again in a ''small space'' engine stands are shit.

[jamiedennick123]

I forgot to say about that book from tweeks, i had a look into it and i didnt really like the content inside. The one i did buy seems really good so far, how to maintain a turbo, rebuilding, designing a setup and so on.

Well i know people use DTI's for clocking the cams (relatively cheap to buy), got some verniers as they were being chucked out.

This one he never used, only built and sold with a DP turbo kit, etc and i ended up with the engine. Got some tasty parts inside anyway. The car will be close to completion in a month or so once ive got boost pipes designed and made up.

My shed is very small haha. In need of sorting out, one day i will have a garage.