clymer, set of wrenches, beer, time..............all you need.

As far as a general book, I dont know of any.

The best experience would come from cracking into a motor and following along with a good manual. I say good manual because the Clymers are ok, but not the best. The best you can follow is a good Mfr's service manual.

I haven't heard of one for the Savage and actually haven't looked for one either.

But all these Japanese motorcycle engines are very similar. Once you fiddle with one you will gain experience to work on the next one.  They pretty much for the most part are all configured the same and only have differences like amount of valves, cylinders, pistons, exhaust ports per cylinder, water cooling, and stuff like that. But the general build is the same, integrated gearbox, overhead cam, cam chain, intake, exhaust (as far as the Japanese bikes go).

Of course there is the 2-stroke engines also, which are different but It sounds like you are mostly concerned with just a better general knowledge of the common streetbike motor.

Thanks guys.