Isky 1007 cam

[Fordestes]

Has anyone here used an Isky 1007 cam ,I found a new one in my stash of parts , I have googled and searched youtube for the specs, I was wondering how streetable is this grind in a 255 mercury? I have never used a 1007 all I can find is a 1007B, would this be good for my 221 to 255 build ,I want the engine to put in my 46 ford pickup with a T170 overdrive as a city and highway driver .
Fordestes

[Jason in TX]

That should be a great cam. Try it and enjoy!

Here are links to videos of cars with 1007 cams so you can hear what they sound like running.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMIm09SQPAs


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3-_wY0xHF4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JITKQyXKgTk

McCulloch blower: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpFMY-JwlDU

[Fordestes]

I am wondering about the regular 1007, I seen the 1007LD Impactor and the 1007B already, Thanks for posting .
Fordestes

[flatjack9]

I've got an old Isky catalog that recommends the 1007 for "roadsters and stock cars on short tracks. Standard displacement Mercuries in many cases when equipped with this camshaft are able to outperform large bore and stroke Mercuries. Excellent acceleration coming off the turns and down the straightaways". From that description I would expect it to have decent low end torque. I'd say go for it. I don't know how Isky measures their cams, but the catalog lists 254 deg duration on the intake and exhaust with .312 lift.

[Fordestes]

Thanks Flat Jack , I am wondering now if These are some of the defective cams that got out a few years ago , I know this cam is atleast 10 years old , it's one My late father had squirreled away ,I see a Harmon Collins grind that measures 220 lift and another not marked that has 325 lift. and a N.o.s E.A.B ford, altogether there are over 20 different camshafts for flatheads that I am going to try and sort out over the next few months.
Thanks, fordestes

[Jason in TX]

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A little Isky history from Hot Rod magazine article written by Chris Shelton on May 13, 2011.


Isky swapped a V-8 into his car and ultimately hopped it up with a pair of exceptionally rare Maxi overhead conversion heads. “I knew that I should have a cam that had snappy action for the intake and soft action for the rocker arms on the exhaust,” he says. His quest for that cam took him to Ed Winfield.

“He was the old master with the first cam grinder,” Isky notes. “I was lucky enough that he showed me how he built his machine. I was fascinated by how it worked. You had to build your own cam grinder in those days. In 1948, I bought a Norton cylindrical grinder for $700 and I built my own rocking-bar attachment on there.

“[Winfield] said that a 5/16-inch lift was plenty of lift for a Flathead Ford V-8, so I stuck with that,” Isky notes. “But instead of the soft, smooth action that Winfield did, I made mine that fast, snappy action.” To do that, he eliminated the clearance ramps, the transitions between the lobe’s heel, and flanks. “You could get away with that on the Flathead because of the lightweight valvetrain.”

Though he says he intended to throw away his first pattern attempts, Isky ground a cam from one. Due to the absence of the clearance ramps, “you could hear it coming from a block away,” he admits, chuckling.

It paid off. “Well my cams passed cars through the midrange,” Isky says. “It was because there was no tappet clearance; it slapped the valves open, you might say. My cams had strong midrange and a top end was just as good as the super cams that Winfield and Harman and Collins were making.”

Only Isky found few converts. “When you made your first cam, why, no one would buy it because you had no reputation,” he laments. Making matters worse, his were noisy. What he needed was an audience who didn’t know Isky’s lack of experience-preferably an audience who couldn’t hear well.

Some would claim it as keen insight, but Isky admits the primary reason he bought ad space in the second issue of Hot Rod magazine was out of a certain sense of exasperation. “I guess some people figured that if you were advertising that meant you knew what you were doing,” he rationalizes.

“Well my little ad in Hot Rod magazine got back to North Carolina,” he continues. “We never thought NASCAR would be such a big thing but they started out with Flatheads.” Remember Isky’s observation about his cams’ midrange passingpower? “They loved them-I got a lot of unexpected business there.”

Isky called that cam the 1007 (He started at 1000). More than earn him income, it gave him a reputation. “It wasn’t too long before another guy named Carmen Pisano (drag racer Joe Pisano’s brother) came over. He said he wanted me to make him a radical cam (for a Chevrolet six). So I made it fairly soft action but made it pretty fast and gave him 3/8-inch lift at the valve.

“A friend named Kenny Bigelow heard it run. He was impressed.” Only Bigelow had a better idea: a 270-inch GMC. “He wanted the same thing but a little more lift (so) I gave him 7/16 inch. He’d beat everything in town.” Isky dubbed the Chevy cam the Carmen and the two Jimmy cams the Short Bigelow and Long Bigelow.

Isky readopted the numerical system as quickly as he abandoned it. The inspiration was a hollow-flank lobe design for 1950, a profile that seemingly required a radius-faced tappet. “Those tappets were originally made by a fellow named Knudsen for Flathead sixes,” Isky clarifies. “We made a back spot facer to make room for the mushroom and we had to thin the lobes a little bit. We did that for the 1023 Mushroom Tappet cam.”

The tappets turned out unnecessary for the 1023 but two years later they proved essential. “Chuck Potvin was a pretty clever guy,” he explains. Winfield apparently based his 5/16-inch lift edict on stock heads with somewhat narrow transfer slots. After the war, though, a new crop of aftermarket heads suggested greater lifts were possible, hence the 0.375-inch lift on Potvin’s successful 3/8-inch cam.

With the lift dragon slain, Isky gave Potvin a run for his money. “What happened was a guy sent me a cam from a Midget-a little 90-inch Offenhauser,” he explains. It was a Meyer-Drake No. 4 that got partially wiped out after a tappet alignment key failed. “‘Wow! This is a wicked-looking thing,’ I thought. Just by luck a few months later a guy called from Fresno. He wanted something radical. I ended up making them that cam on a ’32-34 steel cam.

“He loved it,” Isky continues. “(He) passed cars on the track with that short timing and high lift. There was a lot of area under the lift curve. It had a lot of torque and top end.”

Isky says he considered naming the cam 400, a reference to its lift, however, “404 sounded better …” he says, “you know, like the Meyer Drake No. 4.” The name could’ve well been a potshot at Chuck Potvin who had a 0.400-inch lift cam around the same time. That Potvin later introduced the Eliminator with 0.425-inch lift seems to substantiate the idea. “Potvin taught us something. We realized we could overrun that tappet without hurting anything. We forced him to do something and he forced us to do something.” Ironically Isky later discovered that his mentor, Ed Winfield, created the No. 4 cam he copied.

[flatjack9]

That one with .220 lift may be for an Ardun engine. The EAB should have a round .330 lift and is a nice cam.

[Fordestes]

Thanks Jason that is very interesting , I was privileged to know a man who got his start from working for Ed Winfield , he told me a lot of neat things like the Winfield 40 and Kong Jackson to mention a few, all this is great to know.
Fordestes

[Fordestes]

Flatjack ,sometime if you can wil you scan me a copy of some of the flathead grind specks , I plan on Trying to "fingerprint" these cams that aren't marked There are about twenty different cams in this bunch including 53 mercury and the E.A.B .the 320 lift cam I know is over 45 years old , the E.A.B is still in the ford box . it is addressed to a ford dealer in Missouri. I want to check these cams out and mabe copy some for my own use. My concern now is about whether the 1007 is not one of the defective ones that got out a few years back. My e mail is [email protected].
Thanks for your help.
Fordestes.

[Kahuna]

Thanks for posting that information, Jason. It's very interesting to read about the progression of cam development in the early days.
It's also unfortunate that the small cam diameter of the flathead neccitates it to
lower lifts, with the .425 about the most that can be accomplished without major work.
Thanks again
Jim

[Pete]

The Winfield #4 and #5 Offy/Meyer Drake grinds are very popular among flathead V8 circle track racers. There are at least 40 of them running around the country.
The #4 has a slightly lower RATE of lift than the 404A.
There was no significant difference in power between the 2 in my own engine.

[Ol' Ron]

I've used the 1007B in several engines , including an early stock cat. I think it makea a very good street cam in a mid size engine,

[Pete]

"It's also unfortunate that the small cam diameter of the flathead neccitates it to
lower lifts, with the .425 about the most that can be accomplished without major work.
Thanks again
Jim"

"


.460 can be had just by clearing the heads.

[flatjack9]

Originally Posted by Fordestes

Flatjack ,sometime if you can wil you scan me a copy of some of the flathead grind specks , I plan on Trying to "fingerprint" these cams that aren't marked There are about twenty different cams in this bunch including 53 mercury and the E.A.B .the 320 lift cam I know is over 45 years old , the E.A.B is still in the ford box . it is addressed to a ford dealer in Missouri. I want to check these cams out and mabe copy some for my own use. My concern now is about whether the 1007 is not one of the defective ones that got out a few years back. My e mail is [email protected].
Thanks for your help.
Fordestes.

Can do.