Brief book review of "Maximum Boost" by Corky Bell

[DeWitt Harrison <de@aztek-eng.com>]

The wait is over.  Robert Bentley, Publishers, has finally managed to
push this volume out the door after months, nay years, of false
sightings by the editors of EC magazine and others.

Corky Bell has been in the business of creating turbocharged
rocket ships for 25 years - gazillion bhp Porches and the like - and
has distilled much of his forced induction wisdom into
"Maximum Boost - Designing, Testing and Installing Turbocharger
Systems."  The title pretty well suggests the target audience for
the book. The first paragraph of chapter 2 sharpens the focus
by saying, "The essence of this book, if such exists, is to provide
the performance car enthusiast interested in turbocharging with a
body of information that can be used to evaluate system designs,
whether of a factory turbo system or an aftermarket kit. This
book is also intended as a design guide for the hobbyist who wants
to build his own turbocharger system." I would add that it might
also be of interest to the motivated gearhead who wants to become
well inoculated against the demons of turbo-hogwash.

On the other hand, if you are thinking that it might be nice to
get a little more zip out of the new 1.8T, maybe install a chip, then
this book contains _way_ more than you will ever care to know.
Here's a test: Would you be interested in designing and integrating
your own intercooler?

I thought I knew a couple of things about the subject going in.
It turns out that there are hundreds of things I hadn't even
thought about yet and issues I didn't know how to approach.
If you are contemplating a big investment of time and/or money
in turbo modifications, an investment well beyond chipping the
ECU and buying a bigger turbo from Ned for example, this book
will save you the trouble of traveling many a false path. And if you
loved Carrol Smith's "Prepare / Tune / Engineer to Win" book series,
you will find this read a real page turner. Paperback, 250 pages,
$34.95. The publisher may be reached at 1-800-423-4595.

Believe it or not, no business connection of any kind. It's
just that I've been waiting a long, long time. Cheers,

DeWitt Harrison    de@aztek-eng.com
Boulder, CO
88 5kcstq (maybe some day with 500 hp)