Engine Airflow HP1537: A Practical Guide to Airflow Theory, Parts Testing, Flow Bench Testing and Analy zing Data to Increase Performance for Any Street or Racing Engine Kindle Edition

Great book and is chocked full of useful formulas and references for later use. I was hoping for an advanced book on airflow and not just another silly book scratching the surface with port volumes, exhaust scavenging, and the like and this book nailed it. They literally have about 2 chapters talking about flow benches and different methods for measuring airflow and not just assuming you have the ability to magically get any specific port flow numbers you want without having to do any measuring. They are assuming you ARE building an engine from scratch and not only go over ways to calculate numbers which are relevant to your interests, but how to go about quantifying those numbers. Long story short: If you're just doing plug and play work on engines (swapping heads, exhausts, intakes, etc.) this book is probably more than you need. If you're building engines from scratch and need critical flow numbers for a specialized class of racing you need this book.I know the type of racing I do you need to be an expert on every measurable characteristic on the engine you've built otherwise you're not going to be competitive and will get eaten alive in design judging.

I'm an engine builder/head porter with approximately 30 years of experience. I bought the book because I trust the information give by the author, Harold Bettes. After reading the book I found the approach of giving many different references for formulas to be a sensible way of helping to narrow specifics used for development. The book was well written and had an easy to use method for describing not only the math but also what the numbers used in equations represent. I realize that it would be difficult at best for any author to write all the years of experience that Mr. Bettes has in just one book. I feel that he did a great job to cover as much as he could, touching on current issues that engine builders are faced with without loosing focus on the basics . After reading the book, I found that it would be helpful to both experienced and unexperienced gearheads. The book is a great read, and should be found in the library of all respected head porters and engine builders.

This review is of the Kindle version, which really deserves only 1 star. I did pay the extra $$ to get the Kindle version, and in principle I'm OK with that, since someone had to do the conversion from hardcopy. But this version is FULL OF MISTAKES. I really like working the equations, and I'd say there's about a 50:50 chance that any given equation is right. When the variables are defined, they call a rho a lambda half the time. What a joke. Or you can't tell where the parentheses are supposed to begin and end. Sad. It's like a detective game trying to figure out what they should really be.But more than that I still give the content only 3 stars. Granted the flow bench info is pretty good, but I disagree that the equations are explained well. Sometimes they're just handed to you, like they came out of thin air. It's important to know a little more than that so that the equations mean something to you physically. And then when they're wrong half the time (at least in the Kindle version), you can't tell what to do to make them right. So I'd say that overall I'm basically pretty disappointed.

I found this book informative and full of technical information. Some of the tech info is a little more than I really was looking for, such as the chemistry of fuels. If you are looking for more of a reference on engine porting and modification, I would suggest first reading David Vizard's How To Port & Flow Test Cylinder Heads. I think Vizard does a better job of covering the basics and beyond for the average reader.

as represented

This book has a lot of information that will help you In your engine building and design.

Bought this book for college, cant beat amazon's pricing on books. Saves me a ton of money every semester.

The overall quality of the book was far better than the three stars given. The problem for me was that this is 2013 and the book addresses technology by looking at it in the rear view mirror. Granted, much of American racing still is based upon push-rod, small block engines. But that is not where the future lays. I bought the book in hopes of learning more about four valve, smaller displacement, direct injection architecture. Guess I'll have to wait for someone else to catch up with the decade.

Book is OK but has typically American imperial units of measure. But useful book for the price

All OK, Thank you all.

Very good book. A lot of information. Easy and good explained calculations and formulas. One of the best books of that subject.

Excellent read, everything you ever wanted to know and a great reference guide.

This book has lots of good information in there. Id seen in reviews (before I'd purchased) people complaining about the authors use of 2v pushrod engines and no applications of modern 4 valve head, but the physics of airflow are the same. Id give you some good techniques for measuring for x-sections and the like. Granted, it focus a lot on flowbench testing, so you'll end up wanting to buy/build your self a flow bench. A great resource for my collection, not exactly a begniner read, and not a step by step guide to how to port your heads in your garage and make more power. If you have an understanding of basic engine airflow and cylinder head design, this book will help you further your knowledge and applications.