I'm also following this path and have found these links to be helpful:
http://www.siminoff.net/pages/siminoff_books.html
I own The Art of Tap Tuning, and the Luthiers Handbook and have found them to be extremely helpful.
http://www.strobosoft.com/index.cfm?...ry=122&sub=189
This software will handle all your tap tuning needs and comes in two versions, lite and complete -both are under 100 bucks.
To do this the right way you'll need a force gage, the ability to build some fixturing, and a inch pound torque wrench. Also you'll need to build a master soundboard because you will need some sort of refrence to compare your experiments to.