For SSR buyers: Jim G's e-book "The SSR Experience"
For those who do not yet know it, in late 2005 I completed an e-book called "The SSR Experience". The book is a complete guide to choosing, buying, living with, and modifying an SSR. It runs 320 pages of strong, no fluff content. The book is beautifully illustrated with 113 very high quality digital photos, plus 21 graphs, charts, dyno curves, and G-Tech screen shots - most of them also in full color. All dyno curves and G-Tech screen shots are fully explained. This book is THE (and ONLY!) definitive guide to selecting, owning, and modifying an SSR.
It has been "published" as an e-book in order to both make it financially feasible and to get it into everyone's hands as soon as possible. It is sent out in Adobe Acrobat format, so that virtually anyone's computer can open it. Most computers have Acrobat already, but for those that do not, Adobe Acrobat Reader software is available FREE from Adobe, and instructions on where to get it are included with your e-copy of the book.
The Table of Contents is:
Introduction
Chapter 1: What In The World IS the SSR Supposed To Be?
Chapter 2: Important Aspects in How The SSR Was Engineered for Production
Chapter 3: Reasons to Buy an SSR
Chapter 4: Reasons to NOT to Buy an SSR
Chapter 5: Which Model Year? 03/04 or 05/06?
Chapter 6: Differences & Similarities Between 03/04s and the 05/06s
Chapter 7: What to Look for When Buying Either New or Used
Chapter 8: The Special Situation of Trading an 03/04 on an 05/06 Model
Chapter 9: Understanding, & Living With, The Quirks
Chapter 10: Working As a Team With GM & Your Chevrolet Dealership
Chapter 11: Keep it Stock, or Modify It?
Chapter 12: The Range of Potential Modifications, & Their Practicality, REAL Effectiveness, & Rough Costs
Chapter 13: Working As a Team With Your Speed Shop & Custom Tuner
Chapter 14: Simple & (Usually) Reversible Modifications
Chapter 15: Moderate and Practically Non-reversible Modifications
Chapter 16: Major Modifications
Chapter 17: Understanding the SSR's Onboard Computer & Its Agenda
Chapter 18: Dyno Data
Chapter 19: Actual Street Performance Data
Chapter 20: The importance of Staying Connected With Other SSR Owners
Cost is $30. You can buy one of 2 ways:
1. Go to PayPal.com, select "send money", and send $30 to my PayPal account: JimGnitecki@gmail.com
NOTE: This is my new email address, updated as of 11-02-2010 ! Please don't send emails or funds to the old MSN address!
Be sure to use the notes field to include the email address to which you want the e-book sent!
or
2. Send a $30 check by mail to:
James Gnitecki
16910 Hamilton Pool Road - Unit 6
Austin, TX 78738
Again, be sure to include the email address to which you want the e-book sent!
I continue to provide lots of free information in my postings on the board, but the book allowed me to provide WAY more information and detail on each subject, in a well organized manner, that builds towards logical conclusions. It also allows you to get detailed answers right away without waiting for a relevant post.
For those who like to preview a book, send me an email and I'll send you a free 30 page sampling of the content that will give you a taste for both the tone and the level of detail.
Note that the sample is in Microsoft Word format, and is a large attachment - about 2.9 MB. The actual e-book is not much larger at 5.1 MB, because it was converted by my friend Dan O'Toole (a fellow Fanatic on this board), into COMPRESSED Adobe Acrobat Reader pdf format. Note also that the actual e-book can be opened on virtually every computer, since almost every computer has Adobe Acrobat Reader on it, since the software is free.
Most people keep it electronic - that allows you to use features like electronic search for words or phrases, and allows you to enlarge the photos (they are very high resolution, so enlarge nicely for detailed stduy). You can also "take the book" with you on your laptop computer when you travel, and have it handy. Also, when using teh provided checklist, simply print them out whenever and as often as needed.
Some people have printed the book out, 3-hole punched it, and stored it in a 3-ring binder. That takes a bit of time, but for those who like the physical medium, that'll work!
My SSR: `06 Pacific Blue-#22427, 2SS, LS2, #276 of 532, built 10-17-05
The SSR Experience
I'd really like to get a copy, but just don't have the memory for anything
like that. My computer is already slow enough as it is . Ever
offered any in print form? Pics prob. wouldn't turn out to well though.
There's one on ebay now. I'm sure there's a ton of info and will be very
helpful . What to do?
I'd really like to get a copy, but just don't have the memory for anything
like that. My computer is already slow enough as it is . Ever
offered any in print form? Pics prob. wouldn't turn out to well though.
There's one on ebay now. I'm sure there's a ton of info and will be very
helpful . What to do?
Gettting the book printed by a publisher is out of the quesiton. Publishers aren't interested in books whose total maximum sales volume, if EVERYONE bought a copy, is 25,000 copies. In reality, a very small percent of SSR buyers have ever heard of the book, and not everyone who hears about it buys it (incredible as that may seem ). Hardcopy publishers would lose their shirts on the project.
I considered offering a service where I print the book out on a good color laser and sell it for a higher price, but the cost of SHIPPING it gets ridiculous. It's better for the buyer to print it AFTER receiving the e-version.
Some, and maybe even many, people have printed out either sections of the e-book or the entire e-book for their personal use. The color photographs DO print very well on a GOOD color printer - they were taken with a very high resolution digital camera, and were preserved in hi-res format until actual conversion to pdf, so their quality is excellent. In fact, the sheer high number of high resolution photos in the book created some issues in file handling before the file was finally converted and compressed into Acrobat format. There is one photo in the book, taken with GM's (unusual) permission, right on the factory chassis assembly line, that was almost page-sized, and was a huge file on its own until converted and compressed. But, that photo is priceless, because GM normally would not allow ohotos in its factories at all, and of course the SSR assembly factory stopped production a few months after the photo was taken.
My own personal author's copy was printed out on a good color laser printer onto 8.5 x 11 paper, each page hole punched, and the entire book placed in a 8.5 x 11 binder that is 2 inches thick. This makes it easy to print copies of individual pages, like the checklist pages for dealer service visits, as often as desired.
Jim G
Last edited by JimGnitecki; 07-20-2009 at 07:37 AM.
My SSR: 2006 silver automatic SSR license No: GBJ 1
e-book
Hi
as i like to buy my SSR in Oktober , i ordered the SSR e-book , and sent a check to you.
hope to have it soon , to study what i have to look for
Ralph
Boca Raton
Hi
as i like to buy my SSR in Oktober , i ordered the SSR e-book , and sent a check to you.
hope to have it soon , to study what i have to look for
Ralph
Boca Raton
Ralph: Send me your email address via PM or email (below). I will email the book to you right away versus waiting for the check to arrive!
Having now read Jim's book, all I can say is "WOW!!!" If, like me, you're looking at SSR's for the first time, you will find no more authoritative source. Thanks, Jim!
I just finished readed Jim's book too. It is a must read for anyone thinking about the purchase of a SSR or the modification. Easy to read and understand. Jim G will we get any future updates for free?
I just finished readed Jim's book too. It is a must read for anyone thinking about the purchase of a SSR or the modification. Easy to read and understand. Jim G will we get any future updates for free?
it's pretty hard to justify an updated version when the potential market ceased to expand the day that GM stopped production at around 25,000 SSRs total for all 4 model years! To put this in perspective, there are generally 150,000 to 200,000 Mustangs sold PER MODEL YEAR!
What this effectively means is that if I took the months of work to do an updated version, and GAVE it to all existing buyers free, I'd make zero dollars for the time invested! The CURRENT book has not yet broken even, even after 3 1/2 years!
I considered doing an update that I would sell for regular price to NEW buyers, and for a bargain price to existing buyers, but with the total pool of SSRs not growing and in fact SHRINKING as SSRs get crashed or otherwise made inoperable, I doubt I could make it work.
The existing version of the book took many months to produce. I'd love to do an update if there were an economic case, since it is "fun" for me to write, and especially since I am AGAIN unemployed (seven months so far this time - I definitiely need a new, more stable career than this fluctuating-demand IT project management gig I have been doing for years ). But, right now I need to focus on finding a job that actually pays now, not in some hopeful future!
I've even had to postpone further work on my supercharged Mustang book, and my compact tractor book, because they each require a lot of money and time to complete (You cannot really write about something until you have not only done it, but learned all the intricacies too). Like the SSR e-book, they will each be rich in color photos and detailed text, and the Mustang one in particular shows GREAT promise, as that car has turned out to be incredibly reliable and low maintenance despite its 460 hp and high G cornering ability. I have LOTS of rough notes and photos to expand and refine for each of those books, but right now I need to pay bills with only my wife's paycheck coming in.
I understand, it is clear that lots of time, hard work and money went into your SSR book. With you ok I will print my copy and send it in for thermal binding at Staples. Sorry to learn that you have been unemployed so long.
whatfor90: Yes, many of my buyers have printed out the e-book! Note that many prefer to have the hardcopy 3-hole punched and inserted into a 3-ring binder. That way, they can easily extract pages to make copies as desired. Of course, you can do that from the electronic version too by just "printing" the desired pages from the pdf file.
The job thing has been coming to a head fro a few years now. The IT sector never really recovered after the 2001 tech bust, and that is particularly the case here in Austin. Two of the big chip manufacturers here have each cut their staffing by 35% over the past year, and a third one went bust. I am looking around for a new career that will use the skills and experience I have developed, in a more stable marketplace!
Does your email address start with "Tim . . ."? If so, I got it and emailed the book. If not, I haven't seen it yet! Check the spelling on my PayPal account - it's easy to spell my name incorrectly!
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