I'm trying to decide if I need a Lakewood Blowproof Bellhousing. I have a 1970 Chevelle SS with LS7-454(650lift roller cam),stock bellshousing,Centerforce Dual Friction clutch and a M-22 trans. Do I have real chance of blowing a Centerforce clutch and trashing a stock bellhousing.I keep getting horror stories from people saying they have seen cars almost cut in half from blowing clutches.Does anyone have any real stories of blowing clutches and doing external damage to there cars?

It sounds like you've got a pretty potent engine package, planning on drag racing?,
hole shots?, hard high rpm shifts?, built proofing is essential!!!!!! There is a reason behind the SFI approval/standards addopted by NHRA and other sanctioning bodies
and that's SAFETY.

It's not just the clutch, the flywheel needs to be upgraded and you need a blow shield.

If you value you feet, and would like to keep the car in one piece, get the Lakewood blow shield.

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Wally
Gold #67
67 Malibu "Small Block" second owner
90 SS454
71 Malibu "Small Block"
93 torch red vette(crashed)Bad day at Blackrock! 6 grand in damage!

I have actually seen a car with holes in the cowl area due to exploding flywheels, and this was street/strip car, not a dragster.

Over the years I have seen 2 clutch failures that caused injury in 1 and almost injury in second. First was a big block camaro, clutch pressure plate came apart, tore holes in the floor and injured the drivers right foot. Other was a full size chevy van with a 4 speed on the floor, kinda strange but really scary when the pressure plate came apart and the metal cover tore gashes in the floor after demolishing the stock bellhousing. Do yourself a big favor and put a scattersheild on that thing! I have the same combo in my LS-6 chevelle with a lakewood sheild and blockplate, lots of spinning metal at 7000 rpm. P.S. the dual friction clutch takes some serious abuse!

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http://msnhomepages.talkcity.com/yosemitedr/quintillis/index.html

I had a 61 Vette with a LT-1 engine that scattered a clutch and I sure am glad that I had a Lakewood in it. My 67 396 is basically stock and she has a lakewood on her also.

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Rick
67ss bb
But dear, all it needs is a harmonic balancer.....
Rick's 67 (http://hometown.aol.com/rdpriebe)

I have 2 big block 4-sp. chevelles and both have lakewood bellhousings.A few years ago I had a 68 nova 396 4-sp.,the clutch exploded serious damage to the car,I got lucky only 9 stitches to my foot,5 to my leg.I could have lost limb easy.Since then manual means lakewood.The previous advice on flywheel is good advice.This is one of those things where it is best to learn from someone else's misfortunes.

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There is no replacement for displacement.
72 SS W/ls6,4-SPD. 68 Malibu 396,4-spd.

In my 57yrs, I've only seen one, which proved that it DOES happen. The rarer, the better, but it does happen.
When I was in college in the late 60s, a buddy blew his in a 55 Chevy. It had the old cast iron bell housing (much better than the later aluminum) but is still did some damage. The 55-57 chevys have the rear engine mounts on the bottom, rear sides of the bell housing. The clutch/flywheel blew off the part of the housing where the mounts bolt and the back of the engine and tranny fell down to the street. The cast iron housing was junk, but nothing made it through the floor pan.
So, if you are going to be abusing the clutch above 6000, buy some protection for your feet.

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Tom Parsons