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Corvette Performance Projects 1968-1982 (Motorbooks Workshop)
Tom Benford
- List Price: $21.95
- Our Price: $21.95
- Used Price: $9.49
- Publisher: Motorbooks
- Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
- Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 Stars
Product Details
Product Description:
Of the five generations of Corvettes, the C3 or "shark" models are among the most popular with do-it-yourselfers. Produced from 1968 all the way up to 1982, most C3 Corvettes haven't reached the collector status (and inflated prices) of earlier models. Far from being the black sheep of the Corvette family though, these attractive cars are plentiful (500,000+ were built) and affordable enough that they can be purchased, maintained, and enjoyed by a large spectrum of car lovers. The vast majority are powered by the popular 350ci small block-perhaps the most modified and successful performance engine ever.
- Paperback: 112 pages
- Publisher: Motorbooks
- ISBN: 0760317542
- Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
- Weight: 0.95 pounds
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Customer Reviews
- Useful for the "Weekend Warriors"
- Avg. Customer Rating: 4 Stars
- I found this book fairly useful, asa well as being an enjoyable read. The book is set up into six sections (Basics, Under the Hood, Brakes & Suspension, Interior, Body, and Electrical). Within each of these sections, there are 2-6 projects requiring varying levels of skill. Some jobs are as easy as changing the oil, while others require enough skill to remove and replace the front fiberglass clip of a damaged Shark. Each project description provides an estimated time for completion, tools needed/used, talent level, tips, and rough amount of cost. This was helpful in letting the reader get a quick overview of what that particular project entailed. The rest of the project description is more of a narrative of what was done. If you're looking more for a cook-book, by-the-numbers instructional manual, I'd suggest sticking with a Chiltons books.
While the sub-title states "performance projects", some people may find the wording a bit misleading, since the word "performance" invokes images of turning your stock Shark into some quarter-mile racer. This is not the book for them. It is, however, more of a book for the weekend warrior who might want to try tackling certain repair, restoration jobs rather than paying a mechanic/shop.
In summary, if you're going to do an NCRS or Bloomington style restoration job on your C3/Shark, you'd be better served to pick up other more technical books like the GM Assembly Instruction Manual. This would be a good book to have as a supplement, not your main guide. However, if you're just looking to take on some projects to "fix-up" your car because you like getting your hands dirty for a weekend or two, then this book will do the trick. For it's intended use, I gave it a high rating. - Need a book with the basics of older Vettes? This is it!
- Avg. Customer Rating: 5 Stars
- Some automotive technical books are devoted to complex, expensive procedures modifications that sometimes require intermediate or advanced mechanical skills. It's refreshing to run across a book on basics and Corvette Performance Products 1968-1982 is exactly that.
This book covers a variety of service and maintenance tasks a DIY would perform on a 68-82 Corvette (aka "C3" or "Shark") from the very basic, such as how to jack and support your car and changing your oil and filter to more intermediate tasks such as simple body repairs, brake service and electrical troubleshooting.
Each project, and there are 31 of them, is covered by a separate chapter which explains the task in detail and illustrates it with color photos. This "modular" approach means you can either read the book cover-to-cover or use it in the shop as a supplemental service manual, looking-up information on a specific task and just reading that part.
Author, Tom Benford's easy-to-read style and his extensive, hands-on experience working on his own C3 project car make this book an excellent resource for the DIY service technician who is just starting out working on his or her own Corvette.
About the only weakness of this book is the use of the word "Performance" in its title. In 31 DIY projects suggested in this book only two have anything to do with increasing a Corvette's performance. What the publisher needs to do is simply take the word "Performance" out of the title, but leave the rest of this useful book alone.
If you're an automotive DIY and you're just getting into the Corvette hobby with a C3, next to a factory service manual, Corvette Performance Products 1968-1982 should be the most important reference in your garage. It's emphasis on basics is well worth the cover price.
