Got my copy of the previously discussed book today. I'd give it kind of a mixed review. The photos are all pretty small, and all the text is double spaced, so at 144 pages there isn't really a great deal of information in there. It's a typical Lulu work, needing some editing and some format work, and bigger photos with better captions, to really appear as a professional publication.
Nevertheless, I found the book rather interesting in a lot of respects. After reading it I have quite a bit of respect for the author; he has been through these blown alcohol wars, and has obviously learned quite a bit and had a certain amount of success. He really seems to tell it like it is; he doesn't pull any punches and there is no doubt about where he's coming from. A good portion of the book is devoted to cammer specific build issues and I found it rather informative. In particular, he specifies a torque value (114 in-lbs, if I recall correctly) to tighten the chain to. I've never seen that before, and I don't know how reliable that number is given cast iron or aluminum heads, stock or aftermarket bolts, etc. I also assume that he is talking about torquing the chain tensioner bolt, but he doesn't say for sure (that's another minor complaint; some of the explanations in the book are short on detail). But I'm going to try that torque spec on my chain tensioner bolt and see how it compares with where mine is tightened. That would be a really great way of consistently tightening the chain, if adhering to a specific torque spec on the tensioner bolt would work.
Some other examples of his technical comments were that all the aftermarket FE cranks are without the serrations in the rear main journal to help pump oil away from the seal, and as a result all the aftermarket cranks will leak out the rear main. I think he's right about that; he advises having those serrations cut into the rear main. He also says that tulip style valves work best in a hemi chamber, and nailhead style valves work best for a wedge, but my tests on the SOHC showed that the nailhead valves worked better than the tulips on the intake valve; I did have better results with the tulip exhaust valve though. He also says that he runs the blown alcohol cammer with only .001" of main bearing clearance, and they live forever! I was really surprised to read that, but have no reason to doubt it. He also claims that one pass down the track with the bearing clearance at .0035" will take them out. A 3500 HP blown alcohol engine is whole different world, that's for sure.
The SOHC described in the book runs a solid Dove block (no water jacket) and solid Dove heads, but he still includes a section about leak checking the block, for potential oil leaks in the drilled passages! I had to laugh about that, especially given my own experience with leaky Dove stuff. But obviously, to take that kind of horsepower level the block and heads are strong. Sure wish Dove would put that kind of effort into the parts they sell all the rest of us.
Overall I found the book interesting and informative, and am not sorry I purchased it. If you want to read about some esoteric, high HP cammer stuff, this book is worth the purchase price.
