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Pistons & Ink · The Library

Guides: the math behind the mods

The calculators in our toolbox give you an answer in seconds. These guides show the work: every formula derived, every example computed with real parts on real vehicles, and the trade-offs nobody prints on the box.

Six guides · Fitment, drivetrain and engine · Free companion calculator with every guide

Most modification mistakes are not workmanship mistakes. They are arithmetic mistakes made at the ordering stage: a tire two sizes too optimistic for the gears, a wheel whose offset spends clearance the truck does not have, a carburetor sized by folklore, a camshaft chosen without asking what it does to the compression the engine actually runs on. The fixes are all knowable in advance, because the relationships are published, stable, and computable on the back of an envelope.

That is what this library is for. Each guide takes one subject from the Digital Toolbox and goes the full depth: the definitions, the formulas with their constants explained rather than asserted, worked examples carried through to real part numbers and real gear sets, the failure modes in both directions, and the questions readers actually ask. Where a guide makes a claim with a number in it, the number is worked in the text where you can check it. Read the guide, then run your own combination in the matching calculator; the two are built to be used together.

Fitment · Guide
How to Read a Tire Size — and What Plus-Sizing Really Changes
Decode 285/70R17 number by number, work the diameter math by hand, and see exactly what a taller tire does to your speedometer, gearing and clearance.
Fitment · Guide
Wheel Offset and Backspacing, Explained With Real Fitments
Offset and backspacing are the same geometry in different units. Convert between them, work real truck fitments, and see what a wheel change does to inner and outer clearance.
Drivetrain · Guide
Choosing the Right Gear Ratio for Bigger Tires
Taller tires change your final-drive ratio whether you touch the axles or not. Work the restoration formula, check cruise rpm, and learn when to go a step deeper than stock.
Engine · Guide
Static vs. Dynamic Compression Ratio — and the Cam That Matches
Static compression is geometry; dynamic compression is what the engine runs on. Work both numbers on a 350 small-block and see how cam timing moves the real figure.
Engine · Guide
Carb Sizing Myths: Why Bigger Is Usually Slower on the Street
A mild 350 demands under 500 cfm. Work the CFM formula on five real engines and learn why an oversized carburetor kills the booster signal your street manners depend on.
Engine · Guide
Fuel Injector Sizing for Your Horsepower Goal — Gasoline and E85
Size injectors with the BSFC formula for gasoline and E85, NA and boosted, then check the pressure, pump and duty-cycle details that decide whether the math survives in the car.

New guides are added as the toolbox grows. If a subject you are wrestling with is not covered yet, the calculators in the Digital Toolbox each carry a plain-language explanation of the formula or data they run on, and the contact page is open for requests. Fitment questions with real consequences, gearing, compression, fuel system sizing, are exactly the mail we like to get.