Casey Butt

"How to Tune & Modify Your Camaro 1982-1998" by Jason Scott.

That is, without a doubt, the worst automotive performance book ever written. The sections on suspension aren't too bad, but the sections on motors and transmissions could have been better written by my grandmother. Most of it looks like it was scripted from an encyclopedia ...with no specific application to Camaros whatsoever. His knowledge of engine/transmission building is practically non-existent.

I am sure he's never even known anybody that has seen a TBI or Cross-fire injection engine, let alone worked on one himself. Much of the stuff he says regarding these motors is just plane wrong. For example, "...Throttle Body Injection Camaro engines utilized traditional flat-tappet camshafts". Wrong. In fact, none of the third-gen camaro TBI motors had flat-tappet cams - they were all rollers. Another example, "TBI and TPI system fuel pumps are high-volume units mounted inside the fuel tank. They deliver ample supply of fuel to develop 400+ horsepower." Wrong. TBI fuel pumps, in particular, can barely support much over 200 hp.

Much of the information in this book appears to have been invented by Scott off the top of his head without even the slightest effort on his behalf to determine whether his fantasies are true or false.

While his knowledge of TPI is slightly better -- at least he doesn't make as many blatantly false statements -- he still knows less about engine/drivetrain modifications than 99% of the people on this board.

He knows nothing about tuning the computers on these cars. In fact, computer tuning is hardly mentioned at all.

If you want to know about automatic transmissions then you'd be better off asking your grandmother, or doing a search on wikipedia.

I can summarize this book in one sentence:
- Get a 350 TPI with a manual transmission and get somebody to do all the work on it for you.

This book looks like it was written by a teenager who has never held a wrench in his life and wants to impress his friends and relatives because he wrote a book. You'd learn more from one of those "For Dummies" books. And if you want fiction, you'd be better off buying a novel then reading somebody's wild guesses about your car.

Kevin91Z

iTrader: (1)

To be fair, the book was written 10 years ago before all we know now about TPI, TBI, and the computers in our cars. Still, in the points you bring up the book is wrong, and the rest is probably outdated.

tagta189

He's right,I read this book basically about 10 years ago,like he said.This book was written well before information sights like this one here appeared.The information on this websight far,far exceeds anything in that book.

vorgath

I have this book, first Camaro book I bought, still read it now and then, for **** and giggles. That's about it, book is mostly

CityStarz

wow, I almost bought that too lol!

Lucid

iTrader: (4)

The suspension knowledge is pretty good. He talks about subframe connectors, strut tower braces, steering braces and how you should consider upgrading components in harmony with the others. This book is the whole reason i started coming to this website, i wanted to know more on how to tweak my suspension.
I even had my stock suspension components welded and braced like he says in the book, because i had a girlfriend and she was expensive. Of course, Thirdgen.org has much more information than an outdated general book that i bought 6 years ago...
The other book i bought, How to tune and modify Chevrolet fuel injection, has been very useful in tracking down problems with the TPI setup i have, but i think that was by Watson. But i digress

Pat Hall

iTrader: (31)

Another book that fits in the same category is "The Camaro Performance Handbook" by David Shelby. While his book doesn't have all the blatantly false and misleading statements in it, it's so outdated I only read it when I'm feeling nostalgic. Lol. I knew next to nothing about thirdgens before discovering this site.

pizza_guy

with ya'll's statements about the books and thirdgens.

All hail TGO!

Tony89GTA

iTrader: (7)

I bought it cause it had a cool looking f-body on the cover