Who remembers Walkers workshop, and the old Dave Vizzard stuff?

Wouldnt it be great if modern mags did stuff like this?

Or is it just me who loved all the techie stuff and hates the neons?

 

I've always said Vizards stuff was the most informative out there and people would do well to read his books, even if it isn't about the Ford engine. Might be old school, but plenty is relevant today and he was a proper tuner testing out things people seem to think is new today

 

I loved all the techie stuff,wish they still did it.....

 

it's still out there stu, but you have to look harder to find it as there are far more mags around now catering for specialist areas.

and you know how it is with modern cars now better than most. the basic engine designs are often so good that any tuning to be done is with the management, and not everyone can do that.

but yes, i enjoy reading that kind of thing, and that's what i particularly love on this site when there are some good tech threads going.

perhaps you can explain something about modern emissions equipment fitted to engines, and if there's anything to be gained by junking it (e.g. cats, egr etc)?

 

Stu @ M Developments
Buy Practical performance car mag

Dave walker still does articles in there

 

Already do Phil

Im not really harking to tuning articles, just technical articles that explained teh way things work and importantly, why they work, articles that would teach us something when we werent really sat down expecting to learn ya know?

Just seems to be a big gap at the moment, especially in relation to the Ford Magazines... its all cars to look at and no Knowledge to be gained...

 

was going to suggest that, a very good read and will be subscribing very soon although I do buy every copy anyway!

steve

 

Vizzard is a god..... Learn a lot from him. Remeber being an 11 year old reading his book on a series engines

 

they are a very good read.

cant remember fully now but first one i saw
i was just flicking thru.
was an article about cylinder heads, saying the action of exhaust gasses
leaveing the engine 'inducts' far more air into the chamber
than the action of the piston moving down.

If i remember correctly (N/A engine i assume)

 

retro ford magazine is not bad technically...

theres always PPC and retro cars...

both try quite hard to explain the complex stuff properly!!

 

Funny, i found my David Vizzard book on Tuning the Mini A Series in the shed last week from when i had my mini many moons ago

Must have read that thing cover to cover a dozen times.

 

 

I had the Tuning BL "A" Series. My copy of "How to modify your mini" was well worn and dog eared at the corners.

What really gets my goat is the "how tos" that do something so feckin simple there really is no need to explain like the fit clear rear lights. The following month they do "fit cossie brakes to your fiesta" and tell people to use washers to space the caliper out

 

Looking back over old mags, one of the first Max Powers had a reasonable technical article on CVH head porting.

I think the mid-90s was when car modifying in general moved away from old skool style tuning and split.

Big power modifiers are now the definite minority in the car modding scene.

 

gotta agree stu - I stopped bothering with the comics once CCC finished, even then in the later days it was tailing off in the interest stakes.

 

I bought CCC since '87. It was a shame it went. I always found the clinic to be good read.

 

I remember, right back in my school days and during early employment and training at College etc, The CCC articles, Vizzard and Bells books actually shaped what i became in later life.

It was articles and books like these that made me want to do what i do now, and people like these fellas that gave me the thirst for knowledge that ultimately led to me knowing what i do now and choosing the path i have, as opposed to following the path all the other mechanics did on my Mechanics Course at Blackburn College.

Most went on to become fitters of some kind or technitions, yet i went on to become an FI tech to level 5 whilst reading as much vizzard, Walker and Bell in my free time to get a better understanding of fundamentals than most. I didnt really care how we bolted a Turbo on and used gaskets and correct torque procedures, nor did i take a great deal of interest in the fastner technology, i wanted to know what the Turbine Housing did and how the TIP cost an engine power!!

All this was and more info was available for a couple of quid on a newsagents shelf every month... fantastic times!

 

and now......now you have DIY how to fit a set of led door pins and washer jets, and how to make your car look like a neon puke-coloured snowplough with 21" chrome spinners on

 

Eye, I used to be a a CCC die hard. My mum recently cleaned out my old room (6 years after i moved out for good ) and gave me a huge pile of them. Still a good read.

I've read alot of the vizard books aswell. Including the mini bible when i had one!

Walker still writes for PPC and vizard also did a series on head porting for them the other day. Best mag out there at the mo I'm afraid and they do it on sod all budget apparently.

I agree, we need more tech articles. Filling a mag full of same old cossies gets a bit boring to be honest.

 

i've got a couple of David Vizzard's books - first one i bought was "how to tune the ford SOHC engine"

reading books like that is where my knowlege and and thirst for learning comes from - i always try and read technical stuff that explains the hows and whys, not how to and what to

 

i've got a folder i kept all the decent articles in, pulled out of ccc and the like, still go in there now to look for stuff occasionally.
Built my first pinto rally car engine based on hours of reading Vizzard's SOHC tuning book, 180bhp on no budget, totally reliable, fantastic times.. it's a real shame the mags have gone to what they are now, nice pretty pictures if you're lucky.

 

This is the reason why I don't buy any car magazines! They're just comics nowadays.

Learnt far more fom this site alone than from any car mag I've ever read!

If anyone has a 'reading list' of decent books then please share

Neil.

 

In my opinion its actually the internet and forums like PF that have killed the technical magazine market. The info is still out there and its FREE now! and you can interact and discuss in real time. I think things have gone forward not backwards really.

Race car engineering is another REAL tech mag if you want one though.

 

good point

and all without having to get up off your arse and go t'shops

 

As j871 yhk has said Stu, try picking up a copy of my new mag - Retro Ford magazine...

in the blurb we sent out to advertisers etc. one of my hook lines was actually - "remember how car mags used to be? We aim to take you back to the times when a car magazine really was a car magazine, with the most informative, detailed, unbiased technical section full of product tests and fitting guides in our marketplace."

Loads of interesting tech stuff tested PROPERLY like the good 'ol days... back to old skool engineering.

Ben

 

stu you always write a techy in a way that everyone understand ,there must be a load of topics on here already surely simonpf or ff can pirint a few up here and there . i always class pf and ff as the last of the real mags and they already run little tech stuff so it wouldnt be out of the way would it

 

Porkie, your right about the internet, i was having a similar discussion with someone over a meal this week, and the dawn of internet forums spelt the death of many usefull things with regards written articles and books. I would actually be interested to see some ABC figures though to see if magazines are dying off slowly since the internet, or if its just the content that has changed.

Whilst i think the above fact is likely indisputable, i also think its a shame that its not professionals we are all learning from on the internet, that is where the magazines scored, they hired a professional to educate us. It was nice to read one of Dave's rants and know, beyond reasonable doubt, that he was correct and i could store the knowledge without having to double check it. The internet is not like that....

I will try Retro Ford Ben

 

That is so true, Dave (vizard and walker) both did their own development and testing. They always had actual results to back up their explanations. I don't know of any so called tuners that do back to back development on their heads, inlets, exhausts, and other engine specs, etc these days. They just seem to bolt stuff on and take for granted that it works.

Why is it that these days when more tuners than ever have access to equipment like rolling roads and engine dynos that less seem to be developing their own products and therefore their own knowledge?

Rant over

 

.... but as I've said before Stu, the market is out there for a book which you know you'd be more than capable of writing.

I know you're busy, but I'd definitely have it chalked down as one of my "things to do" if I was you....

 

Great idea An in depth History and guide to YB tuning, that would be a great read

 

Dunno about writing a whole book, that sounds bloody time consuming... I could maybe squeeze in a monthly section for a magazine i reckon, but teh question is, would anyone want to read it? Im not sure after this topic... maybe people prefer the internet now..

 

I'd buy it, and put it with my other books on engine build, design and engineering

 

i'd buy it stu. why not try and strike a deal to be a guest columnist/feature writer for one of the mags. at the end of a couple of years, you could take all material and sell it as a book or special edition magazine.

although reading stuff on t'internet is good, you can't beat a real magazine or book - after all, who takes their laptop to read on the khazi?

 

Thanks... If people are willing to buy the mag and read it, then hey, maybe thats what i should be doing?

 

Plus it would be from a trusted source.

 

Now you're just being modest lol

If you were actually to do it, I'd buy it. Every car mag that I've bought in the last 4 years has left me feeling cheated (with the exception of EVO)

Neil.

 

 

i havent bought car mags for years now (well appart from evo), i just read the internet, and buy all the books i can get my hands on

if stu was too write in a monthly mag i would sub too the mag today

ps dave walker is a ledgend

 

Thanks Guys

What would you actually like to read about?

I used to love all the VE discussions, stuff about TIP ratios and to a lesser extent, camshafts and their effects, you know, all that stuff, never been a real fan of "How to fit XYZ"

 

Personally I think FF or PF should be definately be paying you to do a 2 page tech article every month!!! you would enjoy it, everyone would like reading it and Freelance journos get paid ok more beer money never hurts