Are those thirdgen camaro perform books any good? and if so can anyone recommend any good ones? thanx

 

depends on what you want to find out
you should be able to find out pretty much everything from this site
but if you wanted printed material on small block chevy i would get the book by Linginfelter.. its a how to build a small chevy then there are some that discuss the dimentions of firebirds throughout the years but over all i think this site is goin to provide you with a source of dynamic information that is very hard to match. If you have any questions just ask away ... its much better than hoping the book will cover the topic that you are looking for.

Dont get me wrong there are tons of printed media out there that are very helpful (depends on what you are trying to figure out) but dont forget to search here too !!

 

This is a very helpfull book if you are new the small blocks. I now have serveral of his books. Amazon.com: How to Build Max Performance Chevy Small Blocks on a Budget (S-a Design): Books: David Vizard

 

Whatever you do, don't get a book called "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.