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Well now that I have driven my car a couple of times with an Isky cam made up for the cars modifications I have come to an opinion. I can say without a doubt it is absolutely terrible. Extremely disappointed would be an understatement.
This compared to the old Crane Fireball which had a fair idle and a high rpm power band. This cam was definitely a dog under 3000 rpm but over that it screamed. I could pull out in front of a car on the Bay Bridge Treasure Island entrance, which is not really and entrance as much as dropping you right into the traffic, punch the Cougar and it pulled away in a flash. I just wish the power band was a bit lower in the rpm range. Nonetheless, I was able to live with it for 35 years.
The Isky cam has NO power band to be found. My 0-60 time is far under the Crane's 1/4 mile time. In fact at 65 mph it feels as through you are being held back and even here it takes longer to go from 65-80 then the Crane from 0-60. In fact I don't think the car could hit 100 mph now. Going up a slight grade at 30 mph required me to drop to 2nd gear to keep from losing speed. The idle may be great but this engine is no fun to drive with this cam and couldn't get out of it's way if my life depended on it. I put the car through the gears manually from 1000-5000 and found nothing. In short no low, no middle and no high.
So obviously this is going to come out and I'll probably send it back to Isky as junk. This means I need a new cam to put in my car. Something that has a slightly better idle than the old Crane. Something that has low end power without having to put the car into 1st to generate high rpm quickly if one wants to move fast a stop. Something that is nice to cruise a 40 mph back road or 65 mph freeway and have pop when you hit the gas. Granted I have a 3.00 rear, auto and stock converter but if I had gotten a notch down from Crane in 1974 I probably still be using that cam today.
This compared to the old Crane Fireball which had a fair idle and a high rpm power band. This cam was definitely a dog under 3000 rpm but over that it screamed. I could pull out in front of a car on the Bay Bridge Treasure Island entrance, which is not really and entrance as much as dropping you right into the traffic, punch the Cougar and it pulled away in a flash. I just wish the power band was a bit lower in the rpm range. Nonetheless, I was able to live with it for 35 years.
The Isky cam has NO power band to be found. My 0-60 time is far under the Crane's 1/4 mile time. In fact at 65 mph it feels as through you are being held back and even here it takes longer to go from 65-80 then the Crane from 0-60. In fact I don't think the car could hit 100 mph now. Going up a slight grade at 30 mph required me to drop to 2nd gear to keep from losing speed. The idle may be great but this engine is no fun to drive with this cam and couldn't get out of it's way if my life depended on it. I put the car through the gears manually from 1000-5000 and found nothing. In short no low, no middle and no high.
So obviously this is going to come out and I'll probably send it back to Isky as junk. This means I need a new cam to put in my car. Something that has a slightly better idle than the old Crane. Something that has low end power without having to put the car into 1st to generate high rpm quickly if one wants to move fast a stop. Something that is nice to cruise a 40 mph back road or 65 mph freeway and have pop when you hit the gas. Granted I have a 3.00 rear, auto and stock converter but if I had gotten a notch down from Crane in 1974 I probably still be using that cam today.
