The forum talks alot about small block rebuilding/repairing and I was wondering what the best reference book or author is on this subject.

Any favorites people?

This is susposed to be one of the best I hear.  "John Lingenfelter On Modifying Small Block Chevy Engines". Maybe someone else know of others. longhorn2942007-01-27 22:50:47

Power Secrets by Smokey Yunick!! Smokey is one of the most legendary doctors of the small block for decades. Recently passed away, but you should be able to fint the book. There's also a general How to Hot Rod Small Block Chevy that you should be able to pick up in any Barnes and Noble.

My father lived in Daytona Beach & knew Smokey. In 1978 I purchased a 77 Gold Monte Carlo W/ every option ( I ordered it) went to Florida & he got Smokey to tune that 350. They took the carb off,distributor off & retuned them on there equipment in the garage.  They also removed all the air pump stuff & cat converter.  You would not believe the difference & the car passed emmisions  after that. I could cruise 100mph in that car & had 3/4 pedal left. That was one of the best 350's I've ever had & it got 14-15mph around town. When he said he had to best damn garage in town it was the truth.

Agreeing with longhorn294, John Lingenfelter's book is excellent. In fact, I just quoted from it a day or so ago in another post about two-bolt small block mains.

I'd also highly recommend two other books:

"How To Rebuild Your Small-Block Chevy", by David Vizard. Very thorough, well-organized and exceptionally well illustrated.

Also, "Rebuilding The Small-Block Chevy; Step-By-Step VIDEO Book", by Larry Atherton and Larry Schreib. This is a great source of info on a very wide range of topics associated with SB's; and the photos are extremely sharp. The huge added advantage is a two-hour video, documenting how a machine shop rebuilds a SB. If you want to see for yourself what each step involves, watching this video will give you a 'guided tour'. Absent standing next to a pro engine builder in person as he does this work, this video is the next best thing. The book/DVD isn't cheap--$39.95--but to me it's worth every penny.

Hope this helps.

Thanks SFVette....This is what I was looking for. I'm not interested in a lot of speed or noise, just smoooooth performance. So, I think it may be fun to rebuild it myself.

You're very welcome, jayare--I just noticed that we have the same car; so I wish you the best with your project.

I'll mention a few other books that might be useful to you.

"How To Build A Small-Block Chevy For the Street" by Jim Richardson is also worth having, if you're seriously considering a DIY engine build. Very readable, and I think it's the only guide of its kind to feature color photos!

"How To Build Max Performance Chevy Small Blocks On A Budget" by David Vizard has a lot of good info, and it's probably worth getting if you're interested in assembling a good cross-section of information on these engines, but I found it somewhat less useful than the books above.

"Chevrolet Small-Block V-8 Interchange Manual" by David Lewis might seem less valuable than the name implies--but it actually has some charts and tables that I found really helpful and good to have as a reference source. It's not a classic 'how-to' as the titles above are, but still worth getting somewhere along the way.

"How To Build Big-Inch Chevy Small Blocks" by Graham Hansen is the last title on my 'recommend' list. If you've plowed through the others, this might be a little redundant, but the photos are crisp and the info is well laid-out and fairly easy to grasp.

What I've found is that--same as with the service/shop manuals--the most productive approach is to gain comprehensive knowledge from a variety of sources. That's the reason behind my recommendations above. Others may well have their own favorite 'bibles', but so far these have provided me with the best info that a layman like me needs and wants.

What I'd suggest is reading Lingenfelter's book first. Then watch the DVD/follow the text in the Atherton/Schreib package. For me anyway, I felt as though I'd gained a good foundation on our engines from those two sources. Then the other 'how-to' books fill in the blanks and provide a host of detailed info on all the various systems and procedures.

After awhile your head may start to spin from all the technical jargon and specs, but I find myself going back to these publications time after time. In fact, I'm about to re-read John Lingenfelter--just because I think I'll absorb even more from it the second time around, especially now that I've plowed through the rest of these titles!

Good luck, and let us know what your plans are for the Silver Anniversary!

Everybody.....