1993-2002 Camaro and Firebird Performance Handbook (Motorbooks Workshop)

very limited books on this model this one fill a needed gap authors please get busy

I bought this book as part of a present for my Hubby and he is really chuffed. There are lots of pages regarding the history as well as how things work. His model also features so he is really happy. A great book, a great read and an all round happy Man.

Very informative, enjoying reading. A lot of great information and do's and don'ts. I would recommend.

This book is spot on for modifying a 4th gen f-body. I own a 2000 WS6 formula which I ordered from the factory new. I have spent plenty of time researching what mods would work for my car, and here I find a book that gives practical, accurate info. The author is aware that some folks want a dragstrip monster and some want to autocross. He gives great advice on which mods will help you and which won't. The author works at a speed shop in Texas that has a great reputation for moding 4th gens. Their work has been showcased in "High Performance Pontiac" and "GM High Tech Performance" magazines. Every last page is filled with what you need to know in order to achieve the type of horsepower and handling you are looking for. I've re-read this book so many times I can almost quote it by heart now. You won't be dissapointed, order it today!

A very well written and comprehensive book that covers pretty much every part of the powertrain that matters. Everything from intake manifold selection, transmission and suspension upgrades is covered. Differential and brake upgrades are covered too. Fuel delivery and power adder concerns? It's there. Exhaust system upgrades? Check. Being a diehard Chevy afficionado I truly enjoyed reading this book. Although it doesn't say much about the LT1 platform it does contain a wealth of information on the LS1. If you are planning on modifying a fourth gen Camaro or Firebird give this book a shot. You can't go wrong.

Firebird owners, this is THE book you are looking for, helpful and a lot of information on here. I never thought it would be easy to follow, and let me tell you, I’m not a car enthusiast but this book is very easy to understand!

The good news is that finally we have a comprehensive performance guide dedicated to the 4th gen F-bodies. The bad news is that this is likely to be the ONLY comprehensive performance guide dedicated to the 4th gen F-bodies. Up until now we have had several books dedicated to the LT-1, the LS-1, and some passing mention of the 4th gen cars in books primarily dedicated to the 3rd gen Camaro. Kudos to Joseph Potak for putting it all together.However I honestly felt that this book was somewhat "hit or miss". Some things the author did very well at explaining, and others left me scratching my head going "WTF?!?". Here are some examples:The section on suspension work overall was very good... certainly his coverage of torque arms in particular is perhaps one of the best that I have seen short of books that get heavily into chassis engineering. Much the same could be said about some of the other components... and yet some sections he completely glosses over. Again for example his section on rims and tires amounts to a paragraph saying that the technology is constantly changing and simply drops it at that point. While this is true, there still is a LOT of general information that could be shared such as the benefits of going with larger rims or what it would take to run a drag radial. Still another example is in the discussion of shocks which is not much better... essentially he says adjustable Konis are the way to go. OK... While I would agree that Koni makes an excellent shock, there are a whole lot of different choices Koni has to offer depending on preference and application.The part that I found most disappointing, and actually the main reason I bought the book was on the section for power adders. Specifically I wanted to know more of his thoughts on positive displacement superchargers. I've seen what twin screw superchargers like the Whipple can do for the Mustangs, and wanted to know what options were available for my car. Again it amounted to a couple of sentences saying to the effect of "a few people have successfully mounted the Magnacharger on their cars with success, but we aren't going to cover that in this book". Not good at all.Interestingly enough, the author did take the time to show an intake manifold designed to convert the LS1 to carburetors. Talk about a very specialized market there...One comment he did make that had me scratching my head in the history section was that the 4th gen F-Bodies "lived a relatively brief life". Not entirely certain what he meant by that... the car was in production for 9 years, just one year less than the 3rd gen car production run. Maybe it was in reference to the transition to the LS1 years?Verdict: I'm really having a hard time deciding what rating I want to give this book. Part of me would like to give it three stars for glossing over some rather important areas. On the other hand, some of the areas he does cover he does it very well such as suspension, brakes, and rear end upgrades. Area covering engine upgrades (Not power adders) is a bit light, but I feel that can be forgiven due to the fact that there are several excellent books available specifically covering either the LT1 and the LS1 in greater depth.I'm also counting the fact that this is pretty much THE performance handbook for the 4th gen for the time being. For that reason, I'm going to go ahead and give it four stars. However, I hope that Joseph Potak (whom I see actually does read these comments) would strongly consider doing a second edition of the book at some point in the not-so-distant future and both update the material and expand on his thoughts.