Oldmics (2/3/2011)
Dennis
Please go ahead and tell the story.I am on the road traveling for a few days and wont have the time to put into a post.
So,if you dont mind doing the legwork please share the story 
Hoosier
I have the reprint of that Hot Rod Magazine article.The reprint says the article was written by Racer Brown.
The original HRM article also restricted certain content by editorial policys.The identifying of the camshaft manufactor or their products by name was not allowed.
The reprint tells the whole story in which Isky cams and componets were used thruout the tests.
Oldmics
Sorry for the delay, been dealing with snow, computer, etc ... . More importantly, I first reviewed my complete collection of YBM and documented any reference to Isky E2, M-260, 285 hp, and S/C camshafts or engines, and this could be a whole story in itself.
Re the Ed Iskenderian conversation, here are the key points:
(my comments in parenthesis)
Mercury wanted their own engine and apparently funished an engine to Edelbrock. (Perhaps the one in the HRM article.)
Edelbrock made the intake (I assume this is the M-260 intake),
Hard face cam was necessary, to prevent wiping the lobes because of the amount of lift ground. (Due to the existing case depth)
500 - 1,000 kits, intake, springs, cam were manufactured.
Isky billed Edelbrock, Edelbrock billed Mercury Div.
5-8 cams per day were ground then delivered to Fran Hernandez and he would ship them east (assume Dearborn)
Based on development, Fran told Isky we don't need the inner spring, just outer spring with flat damper
Later on Gus Davis from H-M said they were breaking tappets from over-reving and had to add an inner spring, used a Pontiac part and had Ford assign a part number to it. Isky told Gus, I had an inner spring but was told to take it out of the kit.
The E4 is actually a milder cam than the E2, like a 3/4 cam.
The "E" = tested on Edelbrock's dyno.
Heard from the Ford guys that we have a better cam than your E2, from Ionic (Eonic), a fancy cam place in Detroit. Chuck Daigh went back to Eonic, we don't want your "E2 improved" with your special grind, we want it exactly the same.
The Eonic had longer ramps for higher RPM, but lacked mid range. Isky never got a hold of one of these cams, I imagine a "softer cam action" for higher RPM.
Did Isky use Ford blanks? No, I think we bought the stock cam, don't remember where we got the cores from.
Were Ford cams shipped in Isky tubes? Doesn't remember.
The Ford kit, think (Don) Sullivan designed it. Isky heard the intake leaked. (This may of had to do with the valley pan cover clearance issue. I assume there was the same issue with the M-260 intake? What about the Edelbrock 8V intake?)
(Isky) Didn't make any more cams for Ford after the Mercury ones.
Eonic later on made the 427 SOHC cams.
Never talked to Ford or Mercury directly, worked with Edelbrock.
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Questions/Comments:
It appears Ford and Mercury had separate development programs for their race engine kits. In 1956 Ford and Merc did have their own 8V manifolds and camshafts.
Does the M-260 intake have any casting vendor marks? The M-260 intake visually does appear to look like an Edelbrock.
Does the 56 Ford 260 hp 8V intake have any casting or vendor marks?
500 - 1,000 kits seems like a large quantity for a race program. Does anyone know if NASCAR or USAC had minimum build quantities in 1956 or 1957 to be declared "stock"? I think, but not certain, in the 60's 500 units was the number for NASCAR. However, in 1957 Ford initially built only 100 Supercharged cars (65- 2 Dr., 20-Conv, and 15 T-Birds) to qualify for Daytona.
Does anyone have an original M-260 cam? If so, are there any identification marks cast or stamped on the cam? The M-260 does have a Ford part number assigned to it, and the engineering b/p data apparently matches the Isky E2 cam.
Is it possible Ford or Mercury had a lot of these Isky M-260 cams left over and they were knowingly or unknowningly sold by the Ford dealers as a high-performance or S/C cam and that is where the confusion lies that the 285 hp or S/C cam was an Isky E2?
I'm assuming the 285 hp cam in reality was designed by Don Sullivan and manufactured for Ford by Eonic. I am familiar with Eonic, unfortunately they were bought and sold a number of times, and have been out of business for quite some time. I recall from work many years ago we were able to call them, give them a Ford SK or XE part number and they would look up the grind specs for it.
Perhaps someday a 285 hp cam or at least a part number will show up. Has anyone ever seen or heard of a bulletin issued for the 285 hp engine kit?
Regards,
Dennis