Any Mechanical/Maintenance How-To Books Out There?

I was wondering about this....

In the past on other forums I've made very detailed how-to articles on all sorts of stuff gearheads like to see.... such as cam swaps, ported cylinder heads swaps, supercharger/twin turbo installs.... etc.

There are plenty of books out there you can buy that show step-by-step projects or repairs on everything from Porsches to Corvettes.

Has one been made for the 308/328 & 348/355?

The reason I'm asking, is because I'm going to be watching the entire process of a Major on a 355 as soon as one is scheduled at a local shop here since I plan to do my own work on mine in the future. Perhaps I can use the opportunity to have that as one of the detailed chapters with lots of pictures, along with recording notes that I can condense into text later.... perhaps make a book of routine maintenance, small common fixes, repairs, etc, etc, etc.

Maybe once I have a stack of useable data in one place perhaps make a complete book with tons of color pictures and have it published? I know most people take their car in to a shop to be serviced but I'm sure most wouldn't mind seeing pictures of what's going on behind the scenes... thoughts?

Questions:
1) Do any mainstream books like that exist?
2) Do you think there would be interest in this?
3) Would Ferrari even let me publish the book?
4) What would you like to see in regards to topics/chapters?


Just an idea...

 

^ Thanks!!

The only other thing I'd found was an $8 DVD on fleabay that covered some of the big points.

 

I may just go ahead and make the cam belt/tensioner/water pump tutorial from my upcoming shop visit (as close to step-by-step as possible) and post here once I have it.

Dont hold your breath though. I was told that a 348 was just major'd at the shop but at the current moment the only F-car scheduled for repairs is a Mondial.

 

Great responses... thank you all very much for taking the time.

Here's the deal point blank. All of my tutorials in the past have been great “forum quality” pictorials and with the practice thus far any future endeavor could in theory be polished to make it worth serious consideration for publishing as a layman's guide to repairs and maintenance. That was a possible thought when I posted this; now that I see the amount of literature out there this would simply be a “better” guide to help fellow enthusiasts.

Keep in mind, money isn't the reason I made any of my past pictorials.... nor was it the reason to became a sponsor on the forums... I did it all because that type of car [at the time] was my hobby and everything else was spawned as an extension of that hobby. Making a profit requires a commitment in a direction that is more business minded, although theoretically I could just condense all the knowledge known so far into a single book worth reading including new topics such as alternate/lower cost parts sources, etc.

Going down the avenue of making videos would be worth a pile of Gold I'm sure if I intended to make a series, however due to logistics that isn't the plan. I don't currently work in a shop nor do I have full-time access in the same way that I do with vintage Corvettes/etc.

The advice of making newer model pictorials was spot on... but again, I'm a hobbyist and as such the car that will become my hobby and passion is (mainly) the 355 series.

So, at this point I'm going to take the notes/pictures of any 355 dissection I witness, and.... I'll just post them here in a future thread. It can't hurt to see more information out there with details about the tools used and why certain parts should be replaced and add some neat tricks of the trade.

The pictorials here on F-chat I’ve seen so far are good, but they are missing a LOT of detail in between key steps, so with that in mind I’ll just be an agent ready to fill in those blanks, with any eye towards putting the entire mess of knowledge in one place at some point in time.

That's the plan... stay tuned.