TheExaminer

Any good books out there that will give me a good ground up understanding of my L98? I'm talking a Haynes/Chilton type book with pics, charts, diagrams, exploded views and everything you need to know about this motor from fine tuning to rebuild. I understand a little bit of general engine theory, but have a LOT to learn. Just wondered if there was any definitive book on this engine. Any tips appreciated!

Mayt13

Not that I know of, maybe the factory service manual. But that doesn't really get into the why, just the how.

There are technical articles on the site that can give you cam data and explain how to read it. Other than that

The L98 is an OBD1 Non-sequential ('batch fire'), Electronically Fuel Injected 350. This style of injection circumvents the need for a crankshaft and cam position sensor. Unlike most modern fuel injected motors, it does not have solid state spark, but rather uses a traditional coil and mechanical distributor assembly.

IIRC they're are two modes for the ECM; closed loop and open loop. This mode determines which sensors are being called on to determine the air-fuel mixture.

I believe the ECM does a very basic matrix calculation to determine the correct amount of fuel given its sensor inputs. I know there are laptop programs that can be used to rewrite the values of this matrix for systems with horsepower, boost or fuel requirements outside of the ECMs standard data table.

Other than that, it's all basic SBC, which of course has plenty of literature. These pretty much tune themselves, as long as sensors are functioning, EGR is good and vacuum/routing is perfect.

TheExaminer

But what about mechanical information, how things are put together, how they are to be rebuilt, diagrams and etc? This is what Im more interested in. BTW, I hear the factory service manuals are head and shoulders above books like Haynes or Chilton. I'd half believe it because my Haynes seems much too generalized for 82-92, and there's too much in it that doesn't apply to my 92. Sounds like I need to get my hands on a 92 manual?

Mayt13

They are head and shoulders above, but even for a specific make model year they have allot of extraneous info on other motors and trans. Really the factor manual is most useful for its robust collection of diagrams. You'll also find them not as explicitive as a Chilton or Hayes. Most the instructions simply say remove part 'x' and neglect to mention how. Personally I like having all three, I find they each have strengths and weaknesses. I use the Haynes for troubleshooting, the Chilton to understand the why, and the Factory for the how.

None of the above are great for rebuilding a SBC. There are books detected to that topic that are much more informative. Remember rebuilding an SBC is pretty much the same regardless of the intake. The L98/LB9 are identical to all 82-92 305/350s minus the intake manifold. Although the heads are specific to each, they operate the same as any other pushrod 16 valve Chevy sbc.