Anybody have the real specs on the 57 supercharger camshaft?

Please don"t point me to the Eickman book.That information is compleatly incorrect.

Is the Isky E4 info really the same?

Is there any actual proof that Isky provided camshaft services for Ford?

Oldmics

There's some good info in this thread:

http://www.y-blocksforever.com/forums/Topic3108-3-1.aspx


Lawrenceville, GA

Slightly off topic, but did ford ever put the E-2 cam in a supercharged y block??  I haven't seen anything to suggest it, but was curious what numbers the smaller cam would have produced with the blower.

The Isky E2 cam was supposedly the camshaft for the 1956 Mercury M 260 setup.

It may also have been used in Fords racing program for the 312 during 1956.The hi preformance Ford setup for 1956 included a camshaft.

Unfortunatley I do not have any more information regarding specs on that camshaft.

The rumor mill says that Ford and Merc both used the E2 camshaft for 1956.

I have never seen any information regarding its use in any 1957 vehicle such as the factory supercharged engine.

Course there was a bunch of installations done by Paxton during 1956 which could have used the E2.

Nothing by Ford however.

Oldmics

There was an article in Hot Rod in the late '50s called "Bird on the Wing".  '55 Bird owned by Emil Constantino and had many modifications.  He bought a '56 "race kit" to get the intake manifold.  The original article mentioned the cam, but didn't give any info.  Isky reprinted that article as an ad, and the paragraph about the cam was changed, it even had elite instead of pica (anyone remember those terms?) type.  It listed the cam as an E2, gave the specs, 17-59, 63-13, don't remember the lift.  It did not say, however, whether it was the cam from the race kit or was purchased from Isky by Emil.  Les Richey was mentioned as the builder, tuner, and driver of that car.  This early E2 grind was 256 degrees advertised.  A little later Isky's E2 was changed to 22-58, 58-22, a 260 degree grind.

The specs for the "high lift " cam for the blown engine are listed in the back of the '57 Ford Supercharger manual published  by Ford.  32-78, 72-38 at checking clearances of .016 int. and .019 exh.  Running clearances are listed at .020 and .025, so running duration would be a little less than the 290 degrees at checking clearances.  Lobe lift is .290 int. and exh.  Duration at .050 and lobe separation angles were never mentioned in those days, maybe no one paid any attention then.  I have a friend in Mi who was a Ford engineer and recently became interested in F code cars.  He showed me some things in a large loose leaf binder, copies of documents from the Ford archives.  Included was a blueprint of the B7A-C cam, and also a B7A-D cam which I had never heard of.  I don't know if he is permitted to share that information or not.

Years ago I ordered a blower cam from Ford.  It came in a tube with EDB-D printed on it, was marked out with a pen and B7A-C hand written on it.  At the time I paid little attention, but later I wondered if it was a leftover '56 race cam.  I think it is the one in my '57 Bird now, and as I remember it checked out about 270 degrees at running clearance.  It has a smoother idle than the 290 degree cam I had in my race car, and works well with a stock converter.  I noticed a cam for sale on this site a week or so ago, and it had EDB-D on the tube also.  Another friend in Mi said he has a NOS blower cam, when he digs it out I''ll find out what number is on that tube.  Maybe all blower cams were marked EDB but billed as B7A-C.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Further to the discussion, Mummert lists a "Blower Cam" which he has ground, not sure where he got specs for it. I had a copy made (by Engle) from the specs in the supercharger manual. They have cam masters that very closely match the factory numbers. They will also grind them on a new blank if they have any left and if you're so inclined, you can have them close up or widen the cam centerlines. By the way, there were two cams, the 300 hp motors used the standard '57 cam, the 340 hp version used the blower cam (D cam). I beleive the D cam was also used in the "E" code moteors. Hoosier will correct me if I'm wrong on this one.

       I've never heard of anyone using an Isky in a blown car, although I'm sure it's been done. You could certainly get an indication by using one of the desktop horsepower programs and simply plug in the various numbers for lift and duration.  

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Pegleg:

I don't want to get into an arguement, however I think you have heard some misguided rumors somewhere.  All the blown '57 were rated at 300 HP.  Ford never rated a Y at 340.  They were rated at 300 whether they had the 256 degree cam used in all '57s, or the optional 290 degree job.  The 270 horse E code used the regular 256 cam, the 285 horse E code used a hotter cam.  Maybe that's where those EDB-D cams came from.  The blower cam was part number B7A-C, not D.

Racing our cars at various tracks, and in your case showing and cruising, we hear stories from many people who "remember those blown cars when they were new" and know all about them.  Then they start talking about things that were heresay and rumor, and the stories get all twisted.  Even magazines get it wrong.  There is a '71 article about Larry Walker's record holding '57 Custom, and the blower pressures they quote are a mix of the factory specs and specs that Larry probably gave them so that NHRA wouldn't find out he was running more boost than originally specified.  But I have to admit I worked to those specs when I raced NHRA stock.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Frank and John

Thank you for your answers.

Heres what I am finding out.

I recently purchased that camshaft that was advertised as a N.O.S. blower camshaft from the classified sections.

The deal that I arrived at with the seller is a money back situation if it was not the real deal according to the given specs.

After analysis on the CamDoctor.I find that it is NOt an E4 grind OR exactly the same as Eickmans book specs.

It does share "some" of Eickmans specs.

I have not yet seen the supercharger manual specs,but have a copy of that page coming to me.

A call to Mummert provided an interesting discussion.

John had just recently come across a used blower cam provided by a customer in his shop for analysis.

The physical marking were the same as my shaft.The data acquired form John"s analysis also is the same as the one that I have.

The key point of information here is that the original used cam that John checked was on 110 centers.

All of Fords other stuff that I know about was on 112 centers.

John believes that the 110 centers are original and correct for the hi power optional camshaft blower application.

Now Hoosier brings up a good point about the horse power ratings.

Ford never did rate above the 300 H.P. level in 1957.

Stands to reason that a hotter cam than the stock 312 cam (which was used in ALL of the 312 engines) would up the horsepower rating to the 340 specs we all have heard.

This optional 110 center cam was probably used in 285 H.P. engines.This way Ford still could rate a higher H.P. than Chevy and be below 300 H.P. for insurance ratings or whatever reasons they had.

I asked John why were his repro shafts were ground on 112 centers.

His answer was that all of the shafts that he had seen (thats a HUGE amount of experience) for the blower cars were on 112 and he felt that was correct-until this shaft turned up in his shop and now mine as futher proof.

Hoosier,if your engineer friend is able to share that cam information it would be of great interest to myself and I am sure many other folks.

Can you see if he is willing and able to share that with us?

Oldmics-The truth is out there

Oldmics:

I think I know where the 340 HP figure came from.  It was said that the 300 horse RATED engines put out 325 with the 256 cam and 340 with the 290 cam.  These were supposed to be dyno figures from the engines as they came from the assembly line, not blueprinted versions.  Ford rated the engines at 300 HP at 5400 rpm, the bigger numbers probably came from higher crankshaft speeds.  The 290 cam with the associated better valve train pieces would have allowed more rpm than the milder version.

I'll check and see if we can view the specs from that blueprint.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

On a related topic, how is it that no one seems to have the 1957 "D"  engine code, 256° (advertized) cam available? ie; neither Mummert or Schumann's list it. All the rebuilders cams are the 246°.  The 57 cam which was used across the board in passenger cars, should in most cases provide better street performance, but it does not seem to be available. ?? 

Paul