Customer Reviews

How to Hotrod Big-Block Chevys HP42

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is the best engine building bible to live by for early big block Chevy fans. You must understand and appreciate how people built up engines in the "early days" to really see why people do it the way they do today. The information might be outdated to some, but truely valuable to others (pertaining mostly to classic engines). If you have a sixties or early seventies big block Chevy, then this would be the book for you. This book today might be called "How to Build Durable Big Block Performance". It really goes in depth with early big block engine specs., cylinder head upgrading, a great section on carbs., and wonderful photos of these early motors with awesome tips. If you are building a Ram Jet ZL1 454 fuel injected big block, then this book would be too outdated for you. But if like me you have a 1969 original Chevy C20 with a stock 396 and are looking for durable street performance, (not racing performance) this book is for you!

I purchased this book to use as a guide for my first big block hot rod build up. What I have is a huge disappointment. This book is very old and outdated, and most of the points do not make any sense. It continually says that aftermarket parts are inferior to GM parts. Plain and simply put, a lot of steps have been taken in the automotive aftermarket world that this book does not talk about nor should it, since it was written so long ago that Jegs, and Summit did not even exist.
Save your money instead of buying this book, unless you are a very unskilled, and you plan on using junk yard parts to build your engine.

Well one of the other reviewers is 100percent right. While full of technical info, the book is WAY OUTDATED. Many of the GM parts listed are no longer available, there is no mention of GM Perforamnce Parts engines, or the GEN V and GEN VI big blocks since this book was written in the 70's, and as mentioned by someone else here, claims aftermarket parts are usually inferior. Not true today. The book should be updated at a minimum. A nice read if you are restoring an old Vette or Chevy. But if you are looking to build a modern big block, look elsewhere.

I bought this book as a newby 17-year old gearhead in 1979 after purchasing my first car--a 396 Chevy. Until I found and read this book, I thought I hadn't done so hot with my first purchase, since I reasoned that 400 cubic inches had to be better than the "smaller" 396.

This book helped educate me about the differences between those small-block 400's and their big-block brethern, and that I had made the right purchase, however uneducated it may have been at the time. Everything I wanted to know about big-block Chevy design and horsepower production I quickly consumed by reading this book. It became my big-block Chevy bible. From intake manifolds to cams, cranks, sumps, cooling, you name it, everything is covered between its pages.

For modifications and hot-rodding, most of the text stays with strictly Chevy material, although certain after-market manufacturers are mentioned, such as in the carburetion and exhaust departments. At the time of publication, I'm sure those recommendations held firm. However, over the years other makers have obviously stepped to the plate with strong products that will make a big-block Chevy scream. For instance, the writer's actually suggest that you stay with the OEM Rochester carbs in your search for horsepower, and outline ways to get it. While those mods held true back then, today I can only find folks with a vintage interest in Rochesters, and Holleys and fuel injection systems are the rule today outside of spec-restorers. So the obvious word for today is look at the specs and go search for the manufacturer, not the other way around.

Nevertheless, the basic information about the engines themselves is sound. And even if the product lines are dated by today's standards, it's a great look back at where big-blocks came from.

I'm sure there are other updated books on hot-rodding Chevy's, but this book should remain a classic. The 427 on the cover is a work of art.

Bill Fisher's "How to Hot Rod Big Block Chevy's," 2nd edition is said here to be of 1986, but I believe the first edition was published in the 70s while I was serving in the engine room of the Coast Guard Cutter Cape Morgan out of Charleston SC.
At the time I was a true gear head working as an engineman for the USCG, and proudly driving my well-built, but hated buy my neighbors, 1957 Chevy 2 door hard top.
As I kept watch in the engine room, while enjoying the sound of my four Cummins VT-12 600's (2,400 HP!,) I found that there was one author, in this crazy Fu^&K up world, that had it together, and was generous enough to share what He had with others!!!
This book has all the basics you need to know about getting the most out of any 4 cycle engine.
Anyone giving this great book a poor rating is not an intelligent generous man like Bill Fisher, but, I'm sorry to say, their just another product of this dumbed down, Miss. information age.

This is a must have book for the Big Block Chevy Hot Rodder!!
Dave Young Southern Ca.

I have this book (ISBN: 0-912656-04-2), same cover, but the authors are Bill Fisher & Bob Waar, not John Thawley

Very informative, but very old school, could use newer technology, such as with cylinder heads, and camshaft grinds, crankshafts, rods, pistons. But if you're building on a budget, this book is a good source.