Ford performance

Don't even think about building an FE engine until reading this book, cover to cover. It is a "must have", from a very knowledgeable & proven expert.

Editorial Review :: The Ford FE (Ford Edsel) engine is one of the most popular engines Ford ever produced, and it powered most Ford and Mercury cars and trucks from the late 50s to the mid 1970s. For many of the later years, FE engines were used mostly in truck applications, but there has been a renaissance of FE engine in high-performance street, strip, muscle cars, and even high-performance trucks. While high-performance build up principles and techniques will be discussed for all engines, author Barry Rabotnick will focus on the max-performance build-up for the most popular engines, such as the 390 and 428.
With the high-performance revival in FE engines, a variety of builds are being performed from stock blocks with mild head and cam work to complete aftermarket engines with aluminum blocks, high-flow heads, and aggressive roller cams. How to Build Max-Performance Ford FE Engines will show you how to select the ideal pistons, connecting rods, and crankshafts to achieve horsepower requirements for all applications. The blocks chapter will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each particular block considered. The book will also examine head, valvetrain, and cam options that are best suited for your performance goals. Also covered are the best-flowing heads, rocker-arm options, lifters, and pushrods. In addition, this volume covers port sizing, cam lift, and the best rocker-arm geometry.
The FE engines are an excellent platform for stroking, and this book provides an insightful, easy-to-follow approach for selecting the right crank, connecting rods, pistons, and making the necessary block modifications. Finally, Ford FE fans have the one book they have been looking for.

List Price $24.95 On Sale $15.95

Quality kit, with all zinc plated parts. The step by step instructions, with photos, made for an easy installation. Highly recommended.

Editorial Review :: 3" Body Lift Kit

List Price $509.83 On Sale $339.45

I recently purchased both of the new Robben Ford instruction videos (Art of Blues Rhythm Playing and Art of Blues Soloing). These videos were produced by Don Mock. If you know anything about guitar instruction books or tapes, you should be intimately familiar with Mr. Mock. He has been in the business of educating guitar players for 30+ years. This video has extremely high production quality both in terms of visual clarity and audio quality. I'm delighted about this because so many instruction videos look and sound like they were created with amateur equipment.

Robben is presenting fundamentals of blues based soloing. He covers simple pentatonic based concepts and expands into more advanced territory, venturing into the jazz realm - but without getting too technical too quickly. It does help to have somewhat of a decent background in music theory. But it's not necessary because he (Robben) does such a good job at explaining the concepts in detail. He goes into some diminished concepts - and I learned a couple of new things (and I've been playing guitar for 26 years).

Robben takes each concept and provides live examples of how he incorporates these ideas. He's frequently accompanied by a bass player and a second guitarist (who provide a rhythmic and harmonic back drop for Robben to do his thing). Another FANTASTIC thing he does - which I really loved is how he demonstrates using different pickups, tone and volume settings on the guitar itself to shape the tone. He compared the front pick up to a tenor sax tone and the back pick up to a trumpet tone - obviously in reference to the multiple jazz influences he has. I've never thought about it that way before, but in retrospect, it makes sense.

Robben explained his guitar equipment (picks, strings, amps, effects, and guitars). The guitar he's playing in the video (btw) is a 1957 Les Paul Goldtop which he got from his friend Larry Carlton. It sounded AMAZING in the video. Another gem he presented was his use of a little pedal called a "Zendrive". It provides users with a tone similar to what he gets with his Dumble amplifiers (which are impossibly expensive and impossible to find). It's nice that he can help us real people approximate his tone with real world gear.

I believe the running time on this video exceeded 1.5 hours. So you're definitely getting not only quality content, but ample quantity to keep you busy for a long time. As I said, I've been playing guitar for 26 years (since 1984) and have collected a LOT of videos. I think these new DVD's are excellent and highly recommend them.

Editorial Review :: Robben Ford is simply one of the most emulated modern blues players of our time. In this DVD, his impeccable soloing techniques and tasty phrasing are brought to the forefront. You'll learn dozens of Robben's favorite phrases as he plays several tunes loaded with classic Ford riffs. Robben also answers questions about theory, style, recording, technique, influences and using altered scales. The video features a live performance of Robben's Cannonball Shuffle where you can cop every lick as his burning solo is shown in real time and in slow motion. Includes a 50-page printable PDF file with solos and examples. All songs are transcribed in music and tab! Running time: 1 hour, 48 minutes.

List Price $29.99 On Sale $16.82

Editorial Review :: British magazine covers modified and high performance Ford motor cars.

List Price On Sale $103.00

I've been in IT for almost 20 years now and just about all of the books are pie in the sky theory and cut and paste methodologies that don't work in an actual deployment.
(Why didn't I give this book 5 stars? I would've like some "anatomy of a failure" type lessons learned. But I would've given it 4 1/2 stars if possible.)

This book eschews the theory and talks about what needs to be done to put a service into a production environment and keep it up and running. If you're looking for some great guidelines as to what needs to be done to get a product up and running, this is the book.

As a software test professional, I make a plea to my testing colleagues to get this book. There needs to be more focus on the non-functional aspects of putting a service into an operational state and so little testing is done these days with that in mind.

For developers, it provides a good list of tips for making a system much more responsive with regards to status and reporting in a production environment. Great reminders for Devs to build a system that works in the environment to which it will be deployed.

Get it!

Structured to follow the software life cycle, Patterns for Performance and Operability provides advice and examples-based instructions at every phase. You can read it from start to finish or go directly to those chapters that interest you the most. Whatever approach you choose, you will learn:

How to:

·         Define and document comprehensive non-functional requirements for any software system

·         Define scope and logistics for non-functional test activities

·         Execute non-functional tests and report results clearly and effectively

·         Patterns for defensive software designs in common software scenarios that promote operability and availability

·         Implement the right level of reporting, monitoring, and trending for highly available production software systems

Patterns for:

·         Software designs that support simpler and more efficient operation in a production environment

·         Software design that support high-performance and scalability

Strategies and Techniques for:

·         Techniques for managing and troubleshooting during a production crisis

·         Strategies for resisting project pressure to compromise on quality or completeness of non-functional activities in the software cycle

List Price $73.95

Robben Ford is a great talent that deserves even more attention. While the concert captures Robbens style and skills, it comes across rather flat, mostly because he needs better backup. As usual, he gives time for his fellow performers to take the spot light. Unfortunately, they just aren't up to par. There is a drum solo on one of these DVDs that is amateur night, definitely not what is expected from a top performer. So, I give Robben a three rating based on his tasteful and creative songs and guitar, but the rating is dragged down by the lack of professional back up and production. Still, it is exciting and worth the investment just to see this creative artist doing his thing.

Editorial Review :: This electrifying concert was recorded in May 2001 in the "New Morning" club in Paris, one of the most important European jazz clubs. The packed house experienced Robben Ford in peak form. It was a truly classy performance on the stage that night. Acco

List Price $19.95 On Sale $11.50