Is there any on the net like advanced tech on our forum, I like to read this stuff. I am talking like a dedicated site.


David

 

I feel your pain. Life as a sponge is not the easiest of lives.

You should check out http://www.n2performance.com/techtips.shtml

That's Jim McFarland's site. Jim is a great guy with alot of hands-on knowledge. Worked for Edelbrock and quite a number of manufacturers over the years.

As for some of the other sites, you might be able to glean some useful information from them but the two I know of are "engineering" sites. I'm not saying this to offend the engineers we have on this board but I've worked with and around engineers all my life so I feel I can speak on this with some authority...... engineers often times think they know everything. Especially the young ones. A quote from Oscar Wilde comes to mind.

Too bad, cause alot of them probably paid for an education they could have received at the local library.

They have the book smarts and they know formulas for this and that but it is a rare treat when you find one who has actual hands-on experience in an automotive performance capacity. All that said... try cutting through the egos to the golden nuggets and you may find some use of engtips.com

They have an automotive forum there. I've never registered or posted but I do like to go there and hunt for good info from time to time.

And I'm sure you're familiar with Reher Morrison's Tech Talk from The National Dragster? Good stuff.

Are you looking for a career in high performance stuff David?

If you're interested in the machining/building/tuning side of things, then there are vocational programs for that. Then of course there are universities with programs geared towards the engineering side of it.

Best of luck.

-Mindgame

 

My $.02

 

Well MG, I already have 2 associates degrees, one from UTI in Houston. The other in electronics from a local school, too late in the game to start another one. Been hotrodding most of my adult life and for the last 5-8 years have been interested in learning "WHY" things happen in engine, suspension etc. Just like to read and understand what I am reading (if you know what I mean). I have looked around and couldnt find anything equal to the knowledge level in our advanced section. Just like to read different views on things.

Thanks
David

 

I shouldn't have come across so critical in that last response... nothing personal against engineers. Some of my best friends are engineers. But alot of that response carried over from a little work related issue....

OS,
That's the quote. That one fits just about everywhere though doesn't it.


My apologies David, I guess I was way off on your age. Has nothing to do with the way you post or anything like that... guess I was just hung on "Fatboy" cause I had you pegged as ~18-19ish. Sorry.

I know where you're coming from though. Heck I was a comp science major and although my colleagues consider me to be an expert in my particular field, I still migrate towards this stuff more than I do the job these days. The truth be known... this is a refreshing break for me and I'm sure it is for others as well. So it's great that we all have these things in common.

Back to the tech,
If you don't follow Circle Track magazine then you should... cause you'd like it. They archive tech articles from past issues on their website so check it out. Lots of good reading on suspension, brakes, engines and performance stuff in general. I've learned alot from reading CT over the years.

Another good source is Engine Rebuilder magazine by Babcox publishing (also archived online). Lots of general rebuild stuff but Vizard, Larry Carley and a few other cats write really good tech articles too. So it's worth catching for those articles. You can get that one free if you're creative.

Then there's Racecar Engineering. It's a limey magazine with a premium price tag. Delves more into the engineering (imagine that) side of motorsports. Not real heavy on actual engine tech stuff but the stuff on aerodynamics, suspension design, etc is priceless IMO. I must admit that I am guilty of sitting at the local coffee-shop/bookstore and reading this one.... never buying an issue. Did just pay for a subscription though so I guess I'm not too morally bankrupt after all.

Now if you want to make your head hurt, buy a book on IC engine simulation. By the nature of the beast, this is going to be heavy on mathematics. But everything is accounted for in accurate simulation.... statics, dynamics, kinetics, thermodynamics, Riemann problems.... you name it, it's in there. If you can get through the math, that's 90% of the battle and that's great but understanding the subject matter well enough to get the underlying concepts... that's really the cat's meow. The mathematics isn't really too much of a problem for me (my job is math) but the engineering concepts, those require some study on my part. Either way, simulation books are great tools for understanding engines. I can't think of the title of my book..... bought it around four years ago and I don't have it here at home but there are alot to choose from.

Oh yes.... read Introduction to Internal Combustion Engines by Richard Stone. That one was brought up in a "book" thread here in AT a year or so ago and I picked it up. It's a really good "introductory" book! I'd recommend it to anyone. Picked mine up second hand for ~$30.

Good luck.

-Mindgame

 

Some of your best friends are engineers...but you wouldn't want your sister (or brother) to marry one, right?

That quote was my old signature. I guess nobody gets my current siggy.

Good advice to David. We read those mags also. RaceTech another Brit rag is also pretty good. Very similar to Racecar Engineering.

 

I have read some good stuff in Circle Track mag in the past, but didnt know it was archived online, I will check into the other stuff. But there are no "boards" on the net? Of all the crap on the net you figure there would be, oh well. Thanks for the info MG, BTW I am 39 train wreck, semi pro football, multiple surgery years old. The mind is young(wanting another Hayabusa) but the old bod is having trouble in it's co-operation. LMAO


BIG Dave

 

Damn good information there for folks:
http://www.rehermorrison.com/techTalk/index.htm

 

Yeah, I wish there were more forums like this. We have a pretty darned good one here. Would be really cool if we could get more traffic but everyone is on time management. I know the feeling.

Oh yeah... almost forgot http://www.thrashercharged.com/tech_...ne_design.shtm

Pretty good reading. Also check out the NACA Technical Report Server. Just search Google for it. Not necessarily late model high performance but some great reading on old hi-po aircraft engines.




No problem Dave, Keep the sunny side up.

-Mindgame

 

This almost seems like a quote from Good Will Hunting in a bar in Boston.....

Hey how do you like them apples!

LOL, and I am young, but fortuneatly not a engineer, just a son of one who has done most of that. Even with a engineering background I would say that I would over complicate simple things, and probably simplify complicated things. Young engineers seem to think they have a leg up in some circumstances, sometimes books never make up for a raw understanding of how the world works. On top of that creativity, something most of us loose at about the age of 5, is probably worth more than any degree ever will be. Invention will always beat regurgitation anyday of the week.

Then again the rare guys like Don *** in the 60's redesigned the Gen I Camaro and helped Donahue win the Trans Am championship along with helping Penske get where he is today. So young guys really can do a lot, it's just very uncommon.

Bret

 

Yeh Bret guys like that fascinate me, I am gonna buy Smokey Yunicks book he wrote before he died, to me that guy epitomizes a hot rodder, dream it up and see if it works. I like that kinda stuff, maybe we should start a advanced type forum for this stuff, I have no idea how to do it, well actually I do..but. I think there are more than a few guys like you and Mindgame and my dad that like discussing this stuff, or just lurking and reading. Alot more than are just in the small circle of Z28.com.


David

 

David,
I'd love to do something like you're suggesting if I only had the time to do it right. I think it would be a great service to this hobby and I think it would attract a great number of like-minded individuals. I am a 110% dedication kinda guy. If someone needed help and wanted to build a site like that, I'd be more than willing to lend my expertise but I don't think I'd be the right man to lead the project. But we're talking about it... and that may very well plant the seed in someone's proactive imagination.

Bret,
It's important to know how things work in the world. Look around this site some time. Many of these questions can be answered or at least brought to some conclusion by looking at the most basic laws of physics. Things that everyone at one point learned in high school but may not have cared much for. After all, being openly excited about Newton, Einstein and others didn't exactly propel one's popularity.
Truth is, their works even on a basic level, can answer most of the questions we have about engines, suspension, aerodynamics and so on. Bernoulli's equation applies to airflow through ports as well as it applies to the question of, "Why do curveballs curve?". What happens to airspeed when the flow area is decreased? Bernoulli's continuity equation answers the question and you don't need calculus to solve it.
Newtons laws of physics apply to particle motion, thermal issues, etc.. Issues that are part of any machine. So I'm in total agreement with you, the engineer has a "leg up" in that he/she hopefully has a better understand of the "HOW". That's important, but it's also something anyone with even an average IQ can understand on the basic level. The information is out there and is even easier these days to access. But you know what they say about leading a horse to water.

By the way, this response is the product of an email your father sent me on the importance of, "knowing how the world works" and the overall lack of it. Right, as usual.

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. -Albert Einstein



We have a poster of AE hanging in our conference room with this quote underneath. It makes me chuckle everytime I read it. Einstein had a wonderful way of looking at the world.

-Mindgame

 

Albert did have a few good one liners, didn't he?

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

"Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler."

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

"The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight from wonder."

"It's not that I'm so smart , it's just that I stay with problems longer."

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18."

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

"The faster you go, the shorter you are."

"The only source of knowledge is experience." --Albert Einstein

 

a couple of my favorites...

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"


"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."



and quite possibly my favorite one of all...

"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for
an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity."


SO TRUE!!!