Paul Sandoval Book
 

This has probably already been posted & I just missed it.

Paul has a couple of books out. So, how many here have read 'em ?

Opinions about 'em ?

https://www.amazon.com/BUILDING-PONT...a-834361070320

https://www.amazon.com/BUILDING-PONT...ustomerReviews

https://www.amazon.com/Building-Stro...CA9YWGX1N0JARZ

https://www.amazon.com/Building-Stro...pe=all_reviews

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...erformance-way

Looks like there's even an updated version of one of Rocky's books.

https://www.ebay.com/p/1323668679?ii...RoCasIQAvD_BwE

I’ve read what I assume is the second one. “ Building Pontiac Torque and Power”

I thought it was pretty good. Runs contrary to the “Tractor Motor” line of thought.

I’ve thought about getting the other book but haven’t yet. Thanks for reminding me!

Murf


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I have the paperback for building pontiac torque and power and shortblock performance. It's a good read, albeit somewhat brief in nature. There's some decent insights and contrasts well against the more traditional build teachings found in Jim Hand's book. It's a great supplement to it.

Well worth the price of admission in my opinion.

I haven't yet picked up his second book.

Thanks, pontakr, I decided to add these to my Pontiac library. Thanks for the tip, I wouldn't have known otherwise.

In my experience with him, Paul Sandoval is a simpleton who has no business writing books about Pontiac motors. He's spamming a bunch of the boards on facebook in an attempt to sell his "books" with and making a general fool of himself. When he can't answer basic questions or the discussion points out how shallow his knowledge base is, he blocks the person he's having the discussion with so he can keep spreading misinformation without getting corrected.

I wouldn't buy anything he was selling, either in paperback or the "crate engines" he claims to offer.

It's interesting to read that some of the comments already included "contrary" and "contrast" in them...that's because he is flat out wrong in a lot of areas. It's pretty clear that he's been able to make some people happy by bolting Kauffman and Butler's parts together and making dyno numbers (that aren't really that impressive). In a conversation about how to make a hot street/strip car with high driveablity...he's lost.

I got a couple of them and found them to be pretty much a waste. But if you're bored they can help pass the time a guess.

https://www.sandovalperformance.net/


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He promotes his book on FB a lot with excerpts from the book.

Hmmm. Interesting.


"WE'RE EVOLVING! STAY TUNED AS WE CHANGE OUR FOCUS FROM CRATE ENGINE BUILDING TO COMPONENT SALES, INFORMATION, AND THE OCCASIONAL CUSTOM BUILD."

I have both books. I think a bit high priced for what you get, only about 75 pages, but all the photos are color which can increase costs of any book and probably why the higher price. These books are by no means a complete guide on how to rebuild a Pontiac as other books do that. They are a good read for the novice or someone with a little engine experience who is just getting into Pontiac engines, or the guy who wants to understand on how parts work and how to match them together for a good build. I think the 2 books compliment each other. The 1st is the lead in and somewhat basic but informative as it's aim is the stroker engine. The 2nd is a little more meaty in what parts are needed/selected to make your HP/TQ level build from a 350CI to a 488CI stroker.

Building Pontiac Torque And Power is focused on building a stroker engine and what to do for prep and parts selection/numbers that he must use, machining, assembly tips, & tuning, plus a couple dyno sheets. So this book is what I would term "generic", but good basic info which can be expanded on when it comes time to build, or have built, a stroker engine.

Building a Strong Pontiac Combination for the Street is on optimizing the engine based on the level of HP/TQ you look to get out of it. The choices are broken down into Stock, Sleeper (stock appearing/sounding but big TQ/HP), Bad-ass (has got the sound you know you are coming and higher RPM's 600+HP/TQ), and Ricky Bobby ( higher RPM's & 630-650HP). Then there are parts selection and clearances to use. Next the engines are grouped as short blocks ranging from 350CI to 488CI. Then each category of short block has recommended parts and part numbers to fit each of the 5 levels of build above. Then heads are gone through and each engine category is given a head suggestion/build based on the 5 levels of the build - chamber cc's, valve lengths, cam lifts, rocker arm ratios, and a few specs are provided.

Cam recommendations, intake recommendations, exhaust recommendations, ignition recommendations, and trans/converters are included. Assortment of photos/examples. Then a couple pages of engine builds/specs from 350CI to 488CI for each of the 5 levels of build.

Sandoval seems to like having the pistons stick above the bore/deck .005" on his builds which appears to be his trademark. So these books give you an insight into how Sandoval builds his engines and the parts he uses - he basically has a proven build that he uses to obtain the 5 HP/TQ levels a customer may want out of whatever cubic inch engine they have or want to have. I don't see any real "trick" work being done/shown.

BUT, with the statement found on his website, it appears he is steering away from engine builds and leaning more into the parts supply business.

Thanks for the "heads up" about these books. I guess I have been living under a rock for the last 40 years having never heard of Mr. Sandoval. Being a teacher I have to give them a read now. Cliff's Q-Jet book is wonderful IMO, Rocky Rotella, and Jim Hands books I enjoyed as well as the Pete McCarthy Books and HO Racing. Lots of good Pontiac Info out there.

Years ago people asked me if I was going to do a book on building Boosted Engines.

Even with 40 years of getting paid to do the job, I said "no thanks".

Most of what I learned about boosting came from others: Like Hugh Macinnis, Corky Bell, Dave Austin, Gale Banks, Danny Jones and Ohio George Montgomery, Barney Navarro, Art Whipple, and some of the Engineers at Lysholm and Eaton Engineering.

But everyone can bring something to the party. I will have to look at Mr. Sandoval's info and see what he has to say.

Tom V.

While we are talking about books note that The big little GTO book by Albert Drake has numerous errors in it with many of them in reference to the 67 and up RA motors!

I'm not a Pontiac expert but Jim Hand, Pete McCarthy and H-O Racing Specialties have all written excellent books on the Pontiac performance subject.

I'm not sure I've ever read a book without picking up a useful tip or two. Bill Travato wrote a great book on Oldsmobile performance. The book on Buick performance was pretty bad. A lot of myths reprinted as fact and a lot of worth while information held back.

Just to be up front I have had an engine built by Paul Sandoval, (previously posted details), I am happy with my 585ftlbs of torque. Engine has been running flawlessly for years now.
On his facebook page he has asked if someone on PY could possible paste his reply to the post made by"Navy Horn 16". He is not registered so I thought it would only be fair to give him right of reply.

Personally, I've always had a problem with those who regurgitate the knowledge of others and claim it as their own.

It's been at least 10 years ago but I sent a Q-jet to a customer who had just topped of a pretty "basic" 455 with a set of CNC ported heads from Dave at SD and one of his early "Old Faithful" camshafts. The engine was at a shop/dyno facility with very little experience with Pontiac engines. The owner of the engine said that the staff was having quite a bit of fun at his expense and plenty of "under the breath" comments about his brand loyalty and choice of parts, etc.

On the very first pull the engine cranked out 552hp/604tq.........he said the same folks who were giving him some flack about his engine combo were dialing 911 and heading for the exit doors! The owner actually stood up and congratulated him on the results and said that he had NEVER seen such a "mild" at a glance combination crank out those kind of numbers.

In any case the knowledge to exploit the EXCELLENT mid-range properties of these engines has been out there clear back as far as I can remember, plus well documented with PLENTY of good articles and books on the subject. I still have never seen a rule book about being able to join in that game so really don't have any issues with someone else putting their knowledge and abilities in print. Even so I'm also waiting for the Fulper book. Unless you haven't been keeping up on current events there is a HUGE shortage of toilette paper in our area so one way or the other it would get put to good use.......LOL......Cliff

Definitely can't go wrong with 585 ftlbs of torque!

I thought Mr. Sandoval was a member here and his user name was Paul S??

I hear his book is going to have a chapter on setting up the Q-jet for performance use and debunking all the misques in your book. :D

But on a serious note you did an excellent job on the Q-jet book. I love quoting you to my Chevy buddy and saying "he's the guy that wrote the book on Quadrajets"! .... You'd think he'd go out and buy it.

FWIW, according to the signature on Paul S account, it says Sandoval Performance on the link posted............:noidea:

Last post was 12/17/2014.

"I hear his book is going to have a chapter on setting up the Q-jet for performance use and debunking all the misques in your book."

Unlikely we'll ever see a book on anything, what publisher would take on that deal? IF you want to see some interesting reading look on Yelp, etc for reviews......

Yeah that's back before this site went through a major change over. There were a lot of us, including myself, where our accounts became inactive and didn't work. For the longest time I couldn't get back in here either until another forum member helped me out.
It wouldn't surprise me if the same thing has happened to Sandoval.

As far as the books go, I enjoy reading them all. There is usually something I can take away from each of them. You use what works for you and ignore what doesn't. It's not that difficult.

According to Sandoval, the Q-Jet is an "archaic induction system" and he called me a liar posting my car's performance numbers, and claimed they were impossible. Then I post time slips, and the steps that got to those slips. Other folks start chiming in and correcting his (obvious) mistakes and misconceptions. So, he blocks the people who are correcting him because he isn't smart enough to have the conversation or defend his claims.

It's fairly pathetic that his method is to insult other people's vehicles, get proven wrong, and then delete/run away from the discussion.

Like I said originally, the comments prior to mine about his book running "contrary" or "contrast" to conventional wisdom are exactly right.

I get that there is "more than one way to skin a cat" to get to different performance levels. There are also things that don't change regarding the difference between single/dual plane intakes, cam selection, and how those parts impact your performance in driveability and at the track. Paul's clearly been able to throw parts together and make some top end numbers. Anyone here can log into Butler or Kauffman's website, order parts and make 500ft pounds by accident. That's clearly what Sandoval has done.

I'll just be enjoying my car that I've put together as a hobby that a guy who does this for a living thinks is "impossible". It's actually gratifying to be accused of being "full of ****" by a guy who thinks he wrote the book on Pontiac performance. Maybe he should be asking questions instead of picking fights.

I wouldn't worry about it. Like Cliff mentioned, it's pretty easy to make these numbers with a 455 without trying too hard. With a 4.210 crank and the small intake runners of the stock type heads, ported or not, aluminum or iron, they pretty much make torque everywhere without trying very hard, and the HP follows.

Why would I buy a Pontiac engine book from someone who doesn't post on PY? Promoting books primarily on Facebook tells a lot about the target audience.

Even that Keith dude who wrote that mediocre Milt Schornack book years ago came onboard for a brief while to pimp his wares (and ran the ever so brief PY newsletter IIRC) before ghosting us...lol

And I would have to ask, why would someone need to post on PY to be worthy?

There are plenty of excellent, top notch engine builders out there, that don't post on PY, and probably never heard of it, but they can still build a very nice Pontiac engine.

Quite frankly I couldn't care less if someone posted in here or not. I'm not a huge social media fan anyway so I don't put a lot of weight in it. I'd rather base judgement on personal experience, how they treat customers, quality of work etc... but that's just me.

Let's be honest, this board has a lot of toxic elements and not everyone in the Pontiac hobby actually posts here. Nor should posting here be some sort of qualification to sell a Pontiac good.

This thread kind of proves the point. By my count there's only been a couple people post that have actually read the books. The rest are speculative without first hand knowledge and the thread as a whole is now a Bruce Fulper punching bag.

I trust the advice on here because it's somewhat 'peer-reviewed'. There is some bias but at least I can sort through it and find some good info. I've gotten some great books from people who post on here -Rotella, Hand, etc. and I trust their work and read many of their posts. Some dude that is too lazy to post at perhaps the premier Pontiac site on the web but wades into the cesspool of humanity called Facebook? I'll happily keep my $ in my pocket and reread 40 year old books from McCarthy, etc. that I know work.

Yep, there are a lot of Pontiac enthusiasts in and around my area that don't post on the internet, some aren't even interested in a computer. That doesn't make them any less of a person, they are great people to be around.

I've also met some fantastic people on the board that I call friends, and are also fun to be around, race together, hang out etc...

Shucks I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for my father talking me into joining and I've been messing with this stuff since before I even had a license. He's more of a social media bug than I am or ever will be.

Sandoval Must be a younger guy ??


http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...4&d=1611125266

Obviously great books by Jim Hand and Pete McCarthy

But, what,
No Love for what Kern Osterstock, Craig Hendrickson or Nunzi contributed during the early years.

It could be said without HO, Nunzi and the other die-hards that carried the torch through the 70’s we wouldn’t have it as good as we have it now. And we do have it pretty good. The Buick and Olds guys don’t have any where near the resources or choices we do.

And i am getting old and senile... brain slipped called H-O's Craig, "Jim"

Sorry about that. Corrected original post.

I've joined a couple of Pontiac groups on Facebook. Several times I've regirgitated basic but valuable information I have gleaned from this forum. I also steer Pontiac enthusiasts to this forum.

Had to google this: Not That There Is Anything Wrong With That

Seinfeld line?

"Let's be honest, this board has a lot of toxic elements and not everyone in the Pontiac hobby actually posts here. Nor should posting here be some sort of qualification to sell a Pontiac good.

This thread kind of proves the point. By my count there's only been a couple people post that have actually read the books. The rest are speculative without first hand knowledge and the thread as a whole is now a Bruce Fulper punching bag."

I really wouldn't say a "lot" of toxic elements, but for sure there are some folks who post on here who know little if any more than their Google/search engine skills allow for, and they have never even ported their first Pontiac head, built an engine, or even have a Pontiac powered car that moves under it's own power. I'd also add that their arguments are pretty much meaningless even though they often try to back up their information with "weak" associations with some of the folks that they source the info from.

Don't know exactly how many years I've been posting on here, but one thing is for certain........I do this sort of thing for a living and actually test scores of parts and combinations of parts to see how they work, and post the results. I also stay on topics that I have a LOT of first hand experience with, which tends to keep me out of trouble for the most part.

One of the BEST things that I do here to broaden my knowledge with these things and help folks at the same time is custom tuning. About 10 years ago I opened up a couple of Saturdays a month in the warmer weather to custom tune troubled combinations. I've had hundreds of vehicles brought here and sometimes from great distances. The record to date is 1800 miles one way, but most are within 200 miles or so. I get to see some really nice cars and meet some really nice folks. My success rate for tuning is nearly 100 percent, even if some of the parts involved in the engine combination aren't all that well chosen. So I learn by actually doing this stuff, and try to relay that information as accurately as possible in Public Forum. Even so I often find myself arguing with folks who have less actual experience with these thing than I spent on the crapper this morning. It's just goes with the territory folks, and personally I just put the info up here to help out, whether you use it, or makes copies and use them for toilette paper, or go another direction and get things working well enough for you liking, really doesn't matter in the big scheme of things.

Anyhow, at this point in my learning curve I certainly don't know everything, but do know what doesn't work well, and even better who in this industry potential customers should avoid like a big dose of the COVID 19 virus!......FWIW.......Cliff

But, what,
No Love for what Kern Osterstock, Jim Hendrickson or Nunzi contributed during the early years.

My take exactly. They , and the Pontiac HP magazines were the only places 35 years ago that I was able to get information

I agree. That`s why my post count is so high.:);)

Okay, I'll chime in (as if you've all been waiting with bated breath).

I've seen Sandoval posting in one of the Facebook Pontiac groups I belong to. Looks like he does good quality machine work and likes Pontiacs. Looks like he's trying to make a living building performance engines, and one way he can do that is to publish some books about the combinations he builds.

If he's willing to publish information on the combos he builds and how much power they make, what's wrong with that? Maybe it isn't the way other people would do it, maybe with a few different parts or strategies his engines might make a bit more power or have slightly broader torque bands. I'm not going to ream him for that. He's found some combinations that work, make proven power levels and presumably the people who buy his engines are happy. I haven't seen anyone complaining about how he screwed them, or put together a combo that didn't work, or how his engines blow up regularly. He doesn't proclaim himself King, or tell everyone only he can do it right, or go around putting others down from what I've seen.

After seeing how many people are totally happy with their low compression stock head 455s with XE274 cams in them, I've come to realize that the majority of people don't care if their engine is totally maximized or consists of all the best parts and is the ultimate combo. If it fires up, spins the tires down the block, and sounds nice at the drive-in they're totally happy. If the machine work is done right and the engine has good ring seal and doesn't suck oil through the valve guides, has decent oil pressure,is reliable, and makes the power levels they were told it would, why shouldn't they be happy?

People who want to race and are devoted to tinkering with their engines to get the most out of them (the type of people willing to join here) are generally the type of people who will do the research and seek out more information than just one book. The typical guy though just wants to spend his money and get a reliable, reasonably powerful engine in return. If Sandoval's delivering that, then my hat's off to him.

"People who want to race and are devoted to tinkering with their engines to get the most out of them (the type of people willing to join here) are generally the type of people who will do the research and seek out more information than just one book. The typical guy though just wants to spend his money and get a reliable, reasonably powerful engine in return. If Sandoval's delivering that, then my hat's off to him. "

So you don't think the "typical guy" is wanting to join here? - doesn't race? - isn't devoted to tinkering with their engines?

I think that was quite obvious by what I wrote. no. Seems most guys are perfectly happy if their engine starts and runs reliably and they can drive it to a car show or the drive in or whatever and maybe do a burnout. Beyond that, most don't really seem to give a ****. Nothing else explains the vast quantity of people on facebook bragging about their mismatched combos that they've never once driven down a track.

Well i feel it necessary to take the H-O letters and book to make a personal edit, which includes sections of mcCarty's book, Nunzie's book, and well a few notes from Spotts, Slawco, Kauffmans, Zbutler's, and my own observations.

THAT would be a read!

Also do same with CLIFFS Q-JET book and the big old Q-JET performance book, and my notes.

TH400 and 4L80 info from GM Service books, some products, and my unpublished notes,

really need the text, equations and photos loaded up in a puter! Takes cubic time!

Therefore cheaper to cut and tape into a primary book. which is what i've done.

CRTTFMF. . Cast Rods to the front my friend

had my casty's to 6000 just yesterday :3gears:

Also, I'd buy you're book!

You hit the nail on the head, though I think you've done it inadvertently.

Sandoval is clearly a competent engine assembler. Low information/knowledge buyers who don't care and won't know the difference will be fine with something he sells them.

When Sandoval starts talking about how to make that maximized street/strip car, he shows that he is utterly clueless. He doesn't understand how/why to select proper intakes, cams or even how those selections (to include displacement) impact street performance. He also has a habit (in those forums) of insulting other people's cars/equipment and being unable to handle technical discussions.

If someone wants to hold themselves up a guy who "wrote the book on Pontiac performance", they should be able to have a nuanced discussion about street/strip performance without ducking people who can and have proven them wrong. Silencing someone doesn't make you right, it just proves you are afraid of what they have to say.

He comes off as an unintelligent person who has managed to stumble in to making some non-discerning people happy with underperforming combinations since he used high quality parts. There are easily a dozen people here who could go through this site's archives and piece together much more detailed, higher quality advice and build combinations. Slap a glossy cover on it, and you "wrote the book"!

Before you go accusing him of underperforming engines and mismatched combinations, where are some instances of these engines in use, at the track with performance data to back up the claims? Vehicle weight, ET, MPH, track conditions?? Have you seen something at the track that gives you these ideas?

I've seen the dyno numbers he advertises but until I see one at the track putting up a number it doesn't mean much. Of course this would mean the engines were installed in a car that could at least exploit more than some of the power that is in question.

Not questioning you, I would just personally like to see some track performance before forming an opinion.

Anyone can pretty much make 500hp and 600tq with these 455's with bolt on parts, and will run 11's in any 3500-4000 lbs. car if the rest of the car is decently capable of putting it to use. I mean lets face it, there are a lot of ways to arrive at those numbers with these engines, and none of them are necessarily the wrong way, just different approaches to the same goals.

Question for Navy Horn.

How does your car run, what time does your car put down.

I agree with you. He has neither the track performance numbers to back those up, and his advice on how to improve at the track is proven to be incorrect.

The weather is improving in central Texas today, I think that I'm going to go enjoy a cruse in my Trans Am that that clown says can't exist.

He has in his signature 11.60 at 116. Pretty typical of a combination like that in what I would assume is about a 3800 lbs. car.

We built a nearly identical combo like that for your car with a 4,000 lbs race weight and it ran almost identical times. A 463 with Kauffman ported Eddy heads, Kauffman's custom hydraulic roller. The only big difference is we used the RPM intake on yours and Navy Horn is using the single plane strip dominator.

I believe this simple 455 combination has the potential to go much quicker too, we never got a chance to fully exploit it. In a lighter 1st gen platform even better.

That's what I'd like to see. Dyno numbers give you an idea of what you might expect, but if you see one of those high HP engines running 14's at 98 mph then we know something isn't right ;)