Julian Edgar - Böcker

A step-by-step guide to DIY air suspension for your road car. Manufacturers like Mercedes, Tesla, Audi and Cadillac choose air suspension because they can achieve the highest quality in ride and handling, but until now, there hasn’t been a book that shows you how to get the best from aftermarket air suspension for your road car.This book covers both theory and practice – from the technical advantages of air suspension through to detailed coverage of the development, installation and tuning of a custom air suspension system. It looks at wiring and plumbing, covers a brilliant new low cost electronic air suspension controller, and even shows how to source low-cost components from cars originally sold with air suspension. Want to buy an air suspension kit off the shelf? That’s covered as well, with the six key questions to ask before buying. Written by a prolific hands-on modifier, who has designed and fitted air suspension to his own car, this book is a practical, easy-to-follow guide.Whether you’re after the best ride and handling, or simply like being able to raise or lower your car at the turn of a knob, this book will show you how to do it.

THE complete guide to setting up, equipping and using a home car workshop. Working on your car at home saves you money and helps you to achieve the results you want. You might want to perform routine servicing, modify a car, restore a car, or even build a car from scratch, but to achieve the best outcome, you’ll need a properly-equipped workshop.Whether you have a small or large space, this book covers workshop design, equipment, storage, safety aspects and much more.You will find handy tips on the safe use of tools, a guide to welding, as well as instructions for building your own storage racks and cabinets, how to build a strong workbench – even how to make your own full-length car ramps. It also gives advice on the best tools for working on the electronics of your car. The book is fully illustrated throughout with real-world examples.The author’s many years of experience building and equipping his own workshops for home-modification projects, are distilled here into this eminently practical guide.If you are planning to set up your own home car workshop, this book covers everything you need to know.

This unique handbook assumes no starting knowledge of car electrical and electronics systems. It begins with simple circuits and finishes with complex electronic systems that include engine management, transmission control and stability control systems. If you want to diagnose a simple alternator charging or headlight problem, this book is for you. But if you also want to fix complex electronic systems using On-Board Diagnostics, a multimeter or oscilloscope, this book also shows you how to do that. Is it best to use a series or parallel circuit when adding a horn? How do you use a multimeter to check a coolant temperature sensor against its specs? How can you add an electronic timer that will keep your headlights on as you walk to your door? When should you buy an oscilloscope – and how complex an instrument do you really need?The author has been writing about car electronic systems for over 25 years. He is also an experienced and proficient car modifier who has performed numerous electronic modifications and upgrades to his own cars, including world-first modifications. If you want a practical, hands-on book that demystifies and explains car electrical and electronic systems, this is the book for you.

This unique handbook assumes no starting knowledge of vehicle aerodynamics. It begins with simple ideas and finishes with sophisticated and effective aerodynamic modifications that work. Three major chapters cover on-road testing techniques that give you all the information you need to decide what modifications you should make – and, after you’ve made them, how well they work. Low-cost techniques allow you to visualise the patterns of airflow over your car so that you can actually see the problem areas that need improvement. Uniquely, you’re also shown how to measure aerodynamic pressures, so you can determine which body surfaces are creating lift, drag and downforce. Want to work out where a wing should be placed? On-road testing to find that out is covered as well. The book also shows you how to measure downforce to see if that wing is actually working! If you wish to reduce drag, more than ten different areas are covered. Reducing frontal area, lowering cooling system drag, optimising vehicle ride height and rake, reducing the strength of the wake, achieving clean airflow separation and optimising wheel designs – they’re all covered using the latest research findings. And if you’re a performance driver, there’s a major chapter devoted to reducing lift and improving stability. This chapter includes the design and development of undertrays and diffusers, wings and spoilers. The example car developed measurable downforce when fitted with an undertray and rear diffuser, something that transformed its on-road handling. The author has been writing about the aerodynamics of road cars for more than 25 years. He is also an experienced and proficient car modifier who has performed numerous aerodynamic modifications and upgrades to his own cars. The book’s technical consultant, RH Barnard, is an acknowledged world leading automotive aerodynamicist. If you want a practical, hands-on guide that demystifies and explains car aerodynamics, and shows you how to make effective aerodynamic modifications to your car, this book is for you.

This highly practical and useful book covers brilliant techniques that take the guesswork out of performance modification.Using just some low-cost tools, you can easily measure the flow restriction of your car’s intake and exhaust. It’s like having a huge flow-bench always available. By making some simple on-road measurements, you can plot the shape of the engine’s power and torque curves – no dyno needed. This allows you to not only see if performance modifications to the engine are improving power, but also see where in the rev range those changes are occurring. Assess the worth of cams, a larger turbo, changed boost control or altered engine management mapping. But the book doesn’t stop there – it also shows you how to measure your car’s aerodynamics, seeing if at speed your car is developing lift or downforce. Want to make a rear wing work well? Test the angle at which downforce is greatest. You can also test the aerodynamic airflow through oil coolers, intercoolers and radiators.Interested in improving your suspension? By using a low-cost app and a smartphone, you can accurately measure suspension behaviour. If you want a practical, hands-on book that will immediately save you money, show where modifications are most needed, and can be used to assess performance outcomes, this is the book for you.The author is an enthusiastic hands-on modifier who performs all work on his cars himself in his home workshop. He has been testing car modifications on his own road cars for more than 25 years.