Aw, man, I've done it again: TL;DR; Give me your links and book recommendations on modern engine management.
We have some folks here who know a lot about this, but I'm not going to ask anyone to type of the combined wisdom of their day job for my benefit (or even the folks who don't do it professionally but know a bunch).
I'm wondering whether any of the many and varied books out there can be recommended for getting to terms with modern engine management. I've just ordered a copy of the Ricardo book for an improved grounding and brush up on the basics (I've tended to read a lot more about suspension than engines), but right now it seems like there's a lot that needs learning about how to deal with advances in engine management technology from the hobbyist standpoint. I pondered adding this line of questioning to my old car new engine thread but thought it deserved its own.
I've done a basic Megasquirt installation, and have the usual hobbyist understanding of the bits involved, the relationship between MAP and fuel pressure, the basics of the effects of rich and lean on making power, avoiding making too much heat, the slowness of a lean mixture, though there's a huge amount there I don't know. But that's all in the realm of port injection, and usually amateur application more or less boils down to "the rightish amount of fuel, with spark at a reasonable time" with a lot of variables left out as compared to a really modern engine.
How does one decide what to do with variable valve timing? Lift? I had a really fun time reading up on the Fiat MultiAir valve actuation system. It's exciting and interesting, but it also has modes of operation that I don't see understanding well enough (from where I'm standing, still looking for a giant with available shoulders) to implement even if I had an ECU capable of driving it (multiple intake valve lifts on one intake cycle!?). But the more I thought about it, the more I thought I could at least drive it well enough to take advantage of some of its capability in a street/autocross car.
So, what books can anybody recommend? Links? Sites? Forums?
And of course I'd love to see articles in GRM rounding up the current crop of ECUs and what they're capable of, and would REALLY love to see an article where you guys sit down with someone really current on production car engine management and update us all from the realm of fueling/timing/boost to include the considerations around direct injection pump control (how to determine timing? Is pressure just a faster, higher pressure and more complex version of the FPR issue of maintaining a constant pressure differential across the injector?), the effects of controlling valve lift and timing (to some extent it's like a review of cam profiles and what they do, but with the ability to tweak some parameters on the fly, with knock-on effects on others, of course...)
This is the new normal, right? Let's go!