Automotive Books

Must have to read (or do) a lot of the old school type customizing for cars. Very complete. Well written and detailed sections.

Burger and Hendrickson have done a great job of covering the process of building a hot rod. With their years of experience, wit, and wisdom it makes for a very enjoyable read. Much of the text is obviously culled from the late, great RODDER'S DIGEST magazine, but it was good then, just as it is now. For anyone who is seriously into hot rods, this is required reading.

Okay, I admit, I am not a hot rodder. I like fast, water-cooled volkswagens. The book was a gift. "Great," I thought. "What am I gonna do with this?" It sat around for awhile before I cracked the covers. Good Golly, y'all!! THIS BOOK ROCKS!!

The authors have really distilled auto resto and modification down to were even a nimrod can understand it and envision doing the projects. I can't really speak to the "Model T-this," "Deuce-coupe-that" sort of stuff in the book, but man, the technical stuff about metal-bumping, welding, body work, paint application, suspension modifciation, and other how-to stuff is great. They have put the facts in simple, step-by-step sequences with loads of photos to clarify the procedure. This is the kind of stuff you find in good car magazines, but here, the authors have wrapped into one slick package.

Okay, so it looks a little funny on my shelf with all my euro-car books, but I am not ashamed to own (AND actually to have READ) a copy of Hot Rodder's Bible. My hat is off to the authors. I am sure hot rodders will love this book as much as I found that I did. Believe me, I was determined to not like, or even admit that I owned, this book. Now, I take it to my club meetings and show if off to my buds. I wonder if the authors would ever consider a "Pocket Rocket Bible?"

This book was designed to be a complete guide to finding, building, and enjoying a hot rod. Chapters include: * A Brief History of the Hot Rod * Finding Your Hot Rod Project * Building a Better Body * The Hot Rod Frame * A Rogue's Gallery of Hot Rods * Hot Rod Suspension Basics * Hot Rod Brakes * Hot Rod Engines and Drivetrains * Hot Rod Interiors * 15 Things to Do With Your Hot Rod * The Ten Commandments of Hot Rodding * Source Guide * Club List

Each chapter includes a section on general information and theory, followed by step-by-step how-to sequences. The "Rogue's Gallery" includes color features on a variety of hot rods.

This book is very good in that it gives the buyer several options to use in buying a new car, and explans all the methods in detail. I ended up paying dealer invoice for my new car.

This book was by far the most valuable one I purchased while I was car hunting. I would reccommend it to anyone who has either no experience or overwhelming exeperience with buying cars, and to read it before they buy their next one. A little dated, but a short read with nothing but the facts you need.

My sister bought this book and saved several hundred dollars at a dealership in Canada and then suggested I buy this book. I bought a Saturn, no haggling, BUT I did learn A LOT about buying a car. There were a few things that I was able to save money on even though it was a Saturn. I have suggested this book to a clerk at Geico and even the person I am dealing with by e-mail in the Customer service dept. at SATURN. The book answers a lot of common sense questions and lets you know about things I NEVER would have thought to ask about. If you are going to buy a car...buy this book first and study it!!!

This is an excellent book - very easy to read and understand. I was amazed at the tricks that salesmen pull and found the advice very helpful. I lent this book to a friend buying a new car and he saved $200 off what he thought was going to be his best deal.

Now that stroker cranks and heads are more affordable for Small Block Mopars its more a case of why wouldn't you stroke. This book follows along the lines of How To Hot Rod Small Block Mopars by Larry Shepard and includes various engine packages in the rear - which is great and gives you an idea of what can be achieved and what parts are required to do it, it also includes heaps of websites to check which is also great. The photos are great,gives superb guidance and ideas to pursue and really is a must for anyone building a stroker. Some of the detail can be a bit light if you are the type that really wants to know everything, but I think for 90% of readers like me its excellent and you won't regret the purchase price. In the long run it will probably save you money e.g. fitting Eagle Rods instead of resizing and grinding the block for your original rods.

I am planning on building an engine. There was a lot I had picked out, but this helped take me into a place I didn't think it was possible to go with a little money.

Too little, too late, too generic has been my complaint on Mopar based engine books. Even the factory manuals have ignored the small block, especially the R series. At long last we have a book that at least acknowledges their existence. This manually actually focuses on the performance heads and blocks available instead of just the 30 year old factory stuff. A must have for anyone with a small block mopar.

This book is very complete and a necessary read for the small block builder who is not up to speed on current theory and component availability for the LA series. Building a big stroker from a small Chrysler can be an intimidating project because there is very little published that isn't about a Chevy.

Worth the money....and a great addition to your tech library.

This is a really good box for someone who already has some painting experience and wants to try custom graphics. I am really happy with how my bike turned out with the help of this book!

is really good book very complete and very easy to learn, exelent for beginers in the paintjob world

I really love your "down to earth approach" and attention to "small detail" which really helps to fill in the voids for me. Other airbrush books tend to have big steps that seem to skip alot of the process, where this book, goes over each step in great detail that makes it easy to follow along. I like the way she really explains how to mix the colors and the tools she uses. I have just started painting and doing airbrush work last year. The info in this book meets me at where I am in addition to explaining some of the "goofs" and "boo boos" I have already made. I especially find the chapters on doing artwork, flames and graphics to be extremely helpful. As a novice, I feel you can never be too detailed when you explain "how to do's". Love the way she describes the processes, progress and tips for "what colors to use", etc. I am really looking forward to her next books.

I picked up the book over the weekend, as well, and it is really good. Some of the best photos, really showing the details that you only see when you are actually trying to do this stuff. Too many books will show you a few 'in-progress' shots, and the end results, without giving you all of the in between details that make all the difference in understanding how it is really done. Joann explains that she was trying to include things that other books on the subject really don't cover, and I for one think she has done an outstanding job on this book. It's the bikes that we all have seen in the magazines, and it is really neat to see the paint as it was being done - how it was being done! Great work. Great read, too. Interesting stories, details, photos... I'm going to pick this book up often, and use it as inspiration. The chapter on the pin-up mural makes me want to give it a try, rather than make it all seem very intimidating and impossible for the person who might not have the experience, like me!

This is a valuable asset to the library of MGB owners interested in what can go into an engine rebuild. Specific information for increased streetability as well as racing that can benefit all levels of drivers.

As an owner of two 1972 MGBs, this book has been a great help in pointing out the potential of the MGB 4-banger. Hey, remember the MGB stopped production over 20 years ago! Unless you can afford a Moss Motors turbocharger or a crossflow intake, this is as good as it gets. Honor the marque and buy this book!

This book belongs in every MGB owner's library. It's information is accurate and reliable. Peter Burgess well deserves his reputation as the master among MGB Tuners, and his book makes it obvious as to why and how he has come to be considered to be so.

How to Power-Tune MGB 4-cylinder engines is a good all-around book, although some of the language can be confusing. A good point about this book is that it does not only focus on the engine, but on exhaust, intake, tires, carburation, etc. It tells you exact brands that are good, and that is also nice. However, as this book is produced in England, many parts from companies are not available. I highly reccommend this book to anyone owning an MGB.

This book will provide the reader with a basic working knowledge of hydraulic and pneumatic systems. It is not structured like a text book in that it does not give problems to work on at the end of each chapter. It makes use of numerous illustrations to accompany the explanations and provides the reader with a working knowledge on the function each component in a hydraulic or pneumatic system satisfies.

It teaches the most necessesary practical sections needed to understand the issue.

Working as a practicing engineer for a major US airline, I found this book a very useful introduction to hydraulics & pneumatics. Using this book, I was able to take systems on our airplanes (such as rudder control units and thrust reverser controllers) and write schematics of them using the hydraulic & pneumatic notation. I found the chapter on process control pneumatics to be quite useful in troubleshooting & understanding these systems. While I use this information on aircraft systems, the book is directed to hydraulic & pneumatics in ALL industries and no reference is made to hardware as installed in aircraft applications. Check valves, relief valves, accumulators, pilot valves and sequencing valves are well explained to the layman. The author does a great job explaining the dynamics of cylinders and valves with lots of timing diagrams and schematics. Pick this book up if you want to come up to speed quickly on hydraulics and pneumatics.

This is a good book if u want a brief description on how hydraulic or pneumatic works. I have read the book and now have a better knowledge of hydraulics. The book is small and sometimes u find yourself flipping back and forth to see the illustrations. Might have been better to fit the drawing on the same page as the description. But I thats just my opinion.

This book is my Bible. It does not explain you how to add 2HP to the engine, it explains how all that works and why, with theory, numbers and serious real world tests.
You may be interested in the theory: you'll find all you need to understand more detailled research papers.
You don't need theory: you may simply trust very comprehensive and clear conclusions which explain with figures and numbers how thinks work.
The book covers Spark Ignited and Diesel engines, indirect and direct injected.
The book does not cover recent works on high speed SI (like Honda VTEC) and turbo-diesel engines, as well the indirect injected stratified combustion engines.

Written 10 years ago, the author spent just over a decade to finish this book. Having said that, there are still a lot to learn from this book. I am currently using it as THE textbook of my course (undergraduate and postgraduate).

almost all the areas concerning internal combustion engines are covered in proper detail. it is useful for related undergrad and grad studies, also an indispensable reference for grad research work in engine technologies.

I'm not a mechanical engineer and I have been able to follow the book well. It goes really in depth in some places, so you have to know when to skip a few pages. But it is fine for a final year undergrad course, and I'm sure it would work for a grad course as well, but if you don't have a good math and science background (ie engineering), then just research www.howstuffworks.com and then subscribe to a few car magazines. There is a lot of practical info in here as well, but don't kid yourself, most of this is theoretical backround. I am an electrical engineer who wanted to get into hybrid vehicles, and I think if you are like me and want to just buy one book on ICEs, this is it.

Finally some one has addressed this very huge problem with common sense. If I taught driving, I'd insist that every one read it.
The people who write commercials, brag about how fast you can go.Insurance companies who should be safety conscious brag that their company gives accident forgiveness. The author is right, if a person is speeding and some one dies, it isn't an accident! It's a crime.

Raise your hand if a friend or family member has been injured or killed by an automobile. Maybe you already have a sense of the numbers this country sees every year, but this book was eye-opening in exploring what active policies and cultural norms are causing the carnage. I hope that everyone who reads this book will start feeling a bit of outrage. And I'd be surprised if it didn't change the choices we all make when behind the wheel.

The power of this book is the totality of it--the impact that all the stories, all the statistics, all the exposure of misinterpreted statistics, all the ostrich behavior--has to be taken in as a package. There are no "sound bites" in this book.

The book is written in a very readable style--not a research report or a textbook, but the written equivalent of a face-to-face discussion. Yet, it is full of documented facts.

Every policy maker and legislator needs to read this book. Every driver needs to read this book to become outraged enough to pressure policy makers and legislators to stop trying to simply reduce the injuries and damage of traffic crashes and start trying to prevent those crashes.

Lisa Lewis's total command of the issues surrounding traffic safety makes this a most credible book. She is at her best when she takes unconventional stances on matters that have long been somewhat sacrosanct in this country, such as pointing out the complicity of the insurance industry in undermining traffic safety, or the federal government's role in refusing to address traffic safety issues aside from seat belts and alcohol. Likewise, she points out any number of life-saving technologies already available that the powers-that-be refuse to even consider requiring on vehicles.

It's No Accident is loaded with facts and statistics, but that's not its strong suit. Rather it's Ms. Lewis's passion for the subject -- and for the victims of the out-of-control driving culture in this country -- that leaves the reader convinced that we need to take every step possible to change our nation's attitudes toward driving. Oprah, where are you???

More detailed than the book "Jeep" by Jim Allen. Get a little deeper into the "Jeepmania". Also recommended for new Jeep enthusiasts and people considering buying a vintage Jeep for hobby or restoration. Helps orient one to make the right choice.

This is absolutely one of his and the markets best book. Magnificent photography--the places the photos were shot at accented the Jeeps ruggedness. Steve's writing skills are superb. A must buy for Jeep lovers and auto lovers alike! This book

This book has some great pictures. It is the best book on Jeep history I've seen. I especially liked the part on the Jeepsters.

I liked this book alot better than "The story of Jeeps".

Wow...I never knew so little about the long and colorful history of America's military workhorse. The historic photos really tell the story of the vehicle so many have come to love and own!

I have followed the work of Ed Roth and the late "Von Dutch" since 1953. The word Pioneer doesn't even begin with the work these men have done over the last 45 years. Dutch started the trend of "Free Form" pinstriping, along with painted "figures" and some very unique "Flame Painting" back in the 1950s. Roth started building some very unique vehicles, way ahead of their time. He called himsef a "speed striper" which was a rapid form of pinstriping i,e, "no following around with fine details" yet the work was quite good. This book shows the best examples of both Roth and Dutch, and contains photos that we all thought were lost years ago. "Von Dutch" (a.k.a. Kenneth Howard) was a very underrated man, who was filled with talent and skills that would revel most of today's artists. It was a tragic loss when he died a very lonely man. Roth did a Video of Dutch in the late 1970s, which really showed the "methods to his madness."

I personally have given a tribute to both these men by building a copy of the sign painters box (made in 1919) given to Dutch by his father. Roth has pinstriped a few of these for his charity auctions. This book is a treasure to the art of pinstriping and the "Kustom Kulture" movement.

Although the greatness of Rob't. Williams has been admitted by a few so-called "legitimate" art critics, it's high time to admit the genius of people like Von Dutch, Ed Roth, Gene Winfield et al. Kustom Kulture is artistic democracy in action, "The People's Art." This is an attractive book, with much information and great art. If you are even the least bit interested in this subject, this book's for you. I give it an A+.

If you ever wanted to learn about the masters of hot rod art, this is a good place to start. While not the difinitive history of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth,Von Dutch or Robert Williams, this book delves into the rude awakenings of this all American art form. A damn good read.(I just looked at the pictures!!!!)

While being a big fan of "Big Daddy Roth", I still appreciate his hot-rod artwork. Shortly after finishing the book, I gave it to "Big Daddy Dean Paulsen", the man who taught Ed Roth everything he knows. Paulsen was pleased to know his understudy is still alive and well.