I was wondering if anyone knew of any really good books to buy that would enlighten me a bit about the engine on my new Mustang. I just got a 2012 Mustang V6, but I've never really known much about engines or automotive mechanics. I studied History in college so that never really dipped into mechanical knownledge courses (don't get me started on that.. Non-Western Literature is a General Education course, but basic automotive mechanics isn't? It's insane, everyone could do without the former and benefit from the latter).
What I'm really looking for is to get an understanding of the engine and the vehicle so that I know what I'm doing when I attempt modifications. CAI's are easy, but moving on to other things like superchargers or something will require some education I'm sure. I found this book, but I don't know if it really covers 2011 or 2012 mustangs (since they're so similar):

http://www.amazon.com/Weekend-Projec...pr_product_top

Any book suggestions, or internet resource site suggestions would be of great help! Thanks!

 

One thing I would suggest is to find a set of the workshop manuals on ebay or elsewhere. This won't offer any advice as to the modifications themselves, but it will be very valuable in determining how to dismantle and reassemble everything...

 

Cars for Dummies. Being completely honest. I thought I knew quite a bit about cars but when my wife and I got married, she picked that up so she could learn more about my hobby and understand what I was talking about when I said stuff like camshafts, torque and so forth.

After she read it, I took a quick glance at it, then ended up reading the whole thing as it was very informative and I learned stuff I hadn't known before.

Wasn't modification based book or even Ford based, but just in how engines and cars work in general.

 

Yeah, I saw a number of manuals for Ford Mustangs that were released by Ford Media. There was also some sort of brand of manual called "Chilton". There aren't any available for the 2011 or 2012 Mustangs yet (or '09 or '10 for that matter), but the 2005 and 2007 are at least in the S197 category and should have a lot in common. I'm looking in to all of it. Thanks for the comment though, because at first glance the manuals seemed like that might be a little advanced for now, but if schematics/figures for how parts are put together are in there then I could certainly use that down the line.

I think at this point I would definitely be considered a Dummy. I'm an educated dummy because I have a broad idea of car engines, and I recognize part names, but I largely have no idea how they fall into the bigger picture. I'll probably swing by the local Barnes and Nobles later and grab this one. Again, thanks for your comment because previously I was searching strictly for Mustang info and hadn't considered searching for broader info that would apply in the end.

 

I was in the same catagory as I was not raised on cars and couldn't tell the difference between a intake manifold and cold air intake. I learned a lot from magazines and forums only to realize I was starting to learn a LOT about highly specialized parts such as turbo's, superchargers, cams, and such and didn't have the base knowledge that I needed really to understand how all that specialized equipment could and would affect the engine itself.

So I studied the basic engine first until I felt I had a good grasp on how a standard internal combustion engine worked, then moved on to Mustang engines, difference between modular and pushrod, ect ect.

Read a few books, take knowledgable folks opinions into consideration, reading stickies in forums helps too, don't believe manufacturers horsepower claims, and you be there in no time. :-)