I have read a couple of books on engine tuning that were very general. From reading said books, I learned about the basics of air / fuel ratios and the inherent shortcomings of many factory ECUs and sensors. That's great and all, but I would like to learn more about the how-tos of tuning with examples of what is good or bad. It doesn't need to be super specific such as, "Here's how you tune a 1993 Nissan Maxima to get better fuel economy when cruising at 3,200 RPMs," but I do want it to equip me to spot trouble and know when the tuning is going wrong and / or know what the desired parameters are.

For the record, I'm not totally clueless on the subject (just mostly ignorant). For instance, I can fully appreciate how running e85 lets you advance the timing far beyond where you could safely advance the ignition on the same engine running 93 octane, and I understand why that's a good thing, etc. I just couldn't actually sit down with a laptop and know what to tell the ECU to do to realize those gains. I don't know what the range of effective timing would be.

Maybe an analogy would be helpful. I am interested in a book that is along the lines of Allan Staniforth's Competition Car Suspension or Carol Smith's Tune to Win. In the way that those books are more detailed than Fred Puhn's How to Make Your Car Handle but not as much of a nerdgasm as Brian Beckman's Physics of Racing. From those books, I can comfortably plot suspension geometry, I know how to use a pyrometer and a skidpad to dial in my setup, I know how to make a car rotate a particular way by adjusting the bars, I know how to determine the spring rate that I'd need for a particular application, I know how to eliminate bumps teer by repositioning a rack, etc. Hell, I could even design a suspension setup from scratch (it would suck, no doubt, but I could technically do it). That's the kind of practical knowledge I'd like to have about engine tuning.

Also, when I say tuning, I literally mean the act of adjusting fuel maps and spark timing (then maybe cam timing), not designing intake manifolds for a specific desired outcome or anything like that.

Can any of you recommend such a book? Thanks.

 

Forget a book. Take EFI 101/Advanced courses. I don't know anyone who has taken them who felt dissatisfied. They may not be appropriate for people who are already tuners, but for the average enthusiast who is interested in becoming informed and developing a more comprehensive understanding of the tuning process, they are invaluable. I recommend taking the class when Ben Strader is instructing, as he is a great lecturer and is very approachable. There were people in my class who own dyno shops and had been tuning cars for years- one of these guys told me this is the second time he was taking it and felt it was a great refresher.

 

I thought Ben folded up shop. A buddy of mine did EFI 101 and I went to sign up for it a few years ago to find that all I could learn about it was from forums where people were talking about how it was dead. Has that changed?

 

A good general book is

"Four-Stroke Performance Tuning: Fourth edition" - by A. Graham Bell.

It does not have a guide in a sense of how to tune, make timing tables etc. but it does cover a vast array of motor tuning subjects.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Engine-Managem...s=enigne+uning

http://www.amazon.com/Modify-Automot...s=enigne+uning

Have not read either but the first link was recommended to me as a great and helpful book.

 

No, pretty sure they are still going strong. They have a full schedule for this year listed on their website. I really want to take their engine blueprinting course, but that entails traveling to their location in Lake Havasu, so I have not taken the plunge yet. I have picked up several tuning books that were recommended over the years, and nothing was as enlightening as taking the course. I should have taken the course before I read any of those books.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Now I just need to decide whether I want to take that class, go to Skip Barber, or take some gun and tactical classes I've been looking at. I need to get rich. Haha.

 

We have the same to-do list.