Books on basic car mechanics

Freddiestar

Hi, looking for a recommendation for a hardback book on how cars work. All of the books I've seen online are in depth guide to car mechanics which I'm not after.
If there is a book you know of that explains things like the difference between naturally aspirated and turbo charged for example, or basic mechanics of cylinders, how horsepower is calculated, torque etc. With nice pictures of fine cars to illustrate the text, maybe there is no such book...thanks!

spiggotpaddy

Freddiestar wrote: »

Hi, looking for a recommendation for a hardback book on how cars work. All of the books I've seen online are in depth guide to car mechanics which I'm not after.
If there is a book you know of that explains things like the difference between naturally aspirated and turbo charged for example, or basic mechanics of cylinders, how horsepower is calculated, torque etc. With nice pictures of fine cars to illustrate the text, maybe there is no such book...thanks!

AA book of the car. Old but sounds like exactly what you need.

Andrewf20

Why not use youtube? Loads of that type of info there.

MrCostington

spiggotpaddy wrote: »

AA book of the car. Old but sounds like exactly what you need.

As soon as I read the OP I was going to login to suggest that! I assume you mean the one from the 70's? Or have they updated it? As a 10/12 yo I read it cover to cover many times

Perfect for understanding classics. You will learn what a condenser does with the points and suchlike!!

EDIt sorry I thought I was in the classics section, but still a good read.

crosstownk

spiggotpaddy wrote: »

AA book of the car.

^^ Exactly what you need. Deals with the basics extremely well. I had one years ago and lent it to a friend. That's the last I saw of it. :mad:

biko

Perfect Christmas present for the handy man

FintanMcluskey

Freddiestar wrote: »

Hi, looking for a recommendation for a hardback book on how cars work. All of the books I've seen online are in depth guide to car mechanics which I'm not after.
If there is a book you know of that explains things like the difference between naturally aspirated and turbo charged for example, or basic mechanics of cylinders, how horsepower is calculated, torque etc. With nice pictures of fine cars to illustrate the text, maybe there is no such book...thanks!

Hilliers fundamentals of motor vehicle technology

Freddiestar

FintanMcluskey wrote: »

Hilliers fundamentals of motor vehicle technology

Just looking at Hilliers now, looks the one alright, AA book might be too out of date

FintanMcluskey

Freddiestar wrote: »

Just looking at Hilliers now, looks the one alright, AA book might be too out of date

I found it an excellent book.

The text is complimented with illustrations as opposed to pictures.

Cheensbo

Might sound silly but -

Old gran turismo games on playstation have bags of info in them, I used to spend as much time reading as driving on those games.

Del2005

Freddiestar wrote: »

Just looking at Hilliers now, looks the one alright, AA book might be too out of date

For the questions in the OP an out of date book would be ideal.

While modern cars are full of electronics that can confuse even the manufacturers experts when they go wrong the basics of how a car works hasn't changed much, they all still suck, compress, bang and expel, it's getting them to meet environmental standards that makes them complex.

josip

I always like DK's colour picture-based approach to describing things.
This might be what you're looking for.
Or maybe this if not.

BlakeS94

Freddiestar wrote: »

Hi, looking for a recommendation for a hardback book on how cars work. All of the books I've seen online are in depth guide to car mechanics which I'm not after.
If there is a book you know of that explains things like the difference between naturally aspirated and turbo charged for example, or basic mechanics of cylinders, how horsepower is calculated, torque etc. With nice pictures of fine cars to illustrate the text, maybe there is no such book...thanks!

Hello, I knew nothing about cars 2 years ago, never bothered and didn't have any tools, today I can do all the routine service stuff engine oil and filters, brakes, sway bar end links and bushings, tie rod ends by myself in the driveway. I learned everything I know from Google and YouTube, I'd recommend "Chrisfix" there's a lot of tutorial videos and how to perform services on your own car, and "Engineering Explained" for the "how stuff works" part of it. I find them both very informative as an alternative to books. Hope this helps.

Freddiestar

BlakeS94 wrote: »

Hello, I knew nothing about cars 2 years ago, never bothered and didn't have any tools, today I can do all the routine service stuff engine oil and filters, brakes, sway bar end links and bushings, tie rod ends by myself in the driveway. I learned everything I know from Google and YouTube, I'd recommend "Chrisfix" there's a lot of tutorial videos and how to perform services on your own car, and "Engineering Explained" for the "how stuff works" part of it. I find them both very informative as an alternative to books. Hope this helps.

Cheers, not really looking to learn how to fix my car, just to learn about how they work...anyway just ordered Hilliers book.

CiniO

Andrewf20 wrote: »

Why not use youtube? Loads of that type of info there.

Youtube is brilliant for that kind of stuff, but it's not easy to distinguish between really valuable stuff, and videos which are total waste of time.
So in other words it's easy to get knowledge in things like that from youtube if you have plenty of time to go through informative, non-so-informative or completely nonsense videos.
If you don't a good book pure on a subject is hard to beat.