Anybody have a recommendation for an NHRA Approved bellhousing? I've seen both a Hays and a Lakewood, just wondering if anybody has any experience with installing one on a Super T-10. Also would be interested in a used one if anybody has one they don't need. I have an 11 inch Centerforce clutch going in my 68' and need one soon. Any horror stories pertaining to installing either one? Thanks.

caru68, The really dangerous part is the flywheel. A cast iron flywheel coming apart from heat related cracks in it's surface is just like a bomb exploding. I think i have an old lakewood scattershield around here but from time to time NHRA being the self serving entity that they are decide that they need to update their specs. So they make the old stuff, no matter how good it is, illegal. I had a friend who had a flywheel explode after NHRA made the block plate mandatory and the resulting carnage wasn't pretty. With the blast contained behind the block plate the exploding flywheel mearly tore the bosses off of the back of the block where the scattershield bolted on. It then shot a piece of cast iron into the hood, sawed the right header in half, cut the input shaft off of the muncie 4 speed at which time the shifter went through the floor and upon hitting the ground turned 90 degrees and tore the shifter into and trashed the driveshaft. Upon returning home and pulling the engine he found it had blown up also. He lost everything from the radiator to the rear end because he used a stock cast iron flywheel.

That's great, mine is at the machine shop getting resurfaced as we speak. graemlins/angry.gif What does a steel flywheel cost? More money spent on non-sexy but important stuff.

Hays billet steel about 170.00 on ebay, 190.00 at jegs. I have a Hays with my centerforce clutch system with my 2 piece scattershield. I saw a flywheel come apart in a 57 chevy once and it cut one framerail in half and shot a piece up through the firewall into the passenger seat. If someone would have been sitting there they would be dead. the piece went right where the center of there chest would have been. here are 2 links

http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=2154&prmenbr=361
http://mpf-search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&query=hays&cgiurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Febaymotors%2Fws %2F&maxRecordsPerPage=30&siteid=100&s_partnerid= 2&from=R10&catref=C3&currdisp=1&itemtimedisp=1&st=2&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&categorymap=0&wty=0&sp=0&category2=6030&BasicSearch=&category0= (http://mpf-search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&query=hays&cgiurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Febaymotors%2Fws %2F&maxRecordsPerPage=30&siteid=100&s_partnerid=2&from=R10&catref=C3&currdisp=1&itemtimedisp=1&st=2&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&categorymap=0&wty=0&sp=0&category2=6030&BasicSearch=&category0=)

We have a Lakewood on ours. I think I got it from Jeg's. Steel flywheel too. It's been completely unnoticeable, which is what you want, I suppose. It's like insurance, you have it and hope that you'll never NEED it.

Steel flywheel is defintely more critical than a scatter. ( on the must do list).

Did you folks find any issue with installing the scattershield in place of a stock bellhousing?

Gene,
I have a Lakewood model in my big block 67 ss, feel alot better with it than without. Fit like a glove in mine.
Mike

The Lakewood scattershield does fit perfectly and is a great piece of safety equipment. The steel aftermarket flywheel is a must have item if you run sticky tires and is more important than the scattershield. A Ford friend of mine thought that beings the ford flywheel was cast out of nodular iron they wouldn't blow up. He mushroomed a Lakewood bellhousing where the ring gear was and hasn't used an cast flywheel since, fortunately he didn't suffer any additional damage beside the flywheel.

My old lakewoods fit just fine.
After I got them ground for parallel.
Make sure you check the alignment.

This topic is almost as fun as pinion angle. You can get a swap meet Lakewood but most likely will not have the SFI cert. They never check anyway. You will need a dial indicator to check the flywheel and bellhousing parallelism and register ring run-out. Clean and debur all mating and measured surfaces. Your don't want a Lakewood that's been dragged on the garage floor from swap to swap for the last 20 years. Parallelism is .002 or less according to Lakewood directions. This seemed a little tight to me and Lakewood tech said it was a miss print and it can be a lot looser. Who knows I never got the whole story. I ended up doing a mock up with a factory OE bellhousing that I had personally done effortless high RPM shifts( Very stupid). It was way out compared to the Lakewood.

You also need to buy the longer dowel pins and possibly an alignment kit. Do a search, much good info has been posted.

I've been shopping for a scattershield for my Son's Nova and McCleod seems to be priced the best. DO not buy a CAT billet flywheel, we have one and the pressure plate bolts were drilled wrong, the surface was not ground parallel, and the balance wasn't even close. In fact by the time my machinist got it all straightened out I would have been money ahead if I'd a bought good one. Also use good ARP bolts to hold the flywheel on, I've never seen factory ones break but better safe than sorry IMO.

Not to hijack fellas, but thanks. Checked ujoints last night and found the rear yoke slightly out. Uj has slop in there now, point - guess I am at the power level that requires some beefy/safety items. Richmond is having some trouble going into 2nd, which is my 'digging' gear, etc.


Aw, maybe I'll just put some ovals ports on her and a 4 bbl carb, lose some upper end hp. tongue.gif

On the flywheel. If you decided to go with a new one, be sure to check that it is compatable with the clutch you want to use... Some of the aftermarket flywheels will not work properly with some aftermarket clutches (mainly Centerforce discs)...

For example, the Hays 10-130 (?), the $190 flywheel from Summit: In the description it states "Stock 5 and 6 spring clutch discs will not clear the flywheel bolts." This is because the friction surface is closer to the bolt mounting surface...

Double check before installing so you won't have problems with returns either (if needed)...

Tony, thnx, I recall your story about that. Assume a CF wheel will mate with their clutch. I'll stick to 'knowns', even though it may be a few piasters more.