Is an engine block safety shield required?
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bbeep69
Well-Known Member
Pardon my ignorance but I have no idea what an engine block safety shield is. My '69 road runner is a 4 speed and there were no special parts in the driveline where the transmission bolts up.
I did add a Lakewood safety bellhousing after destroying the stock one when the driveshaft jumped the rear yoke and then struck the driveshaft safety loop bolts at the top end of the strip one night a few years ago. The shock of the driveshaft hitting those bolts split the bellhousing so bad that if the crack had progressed another 2 inches it would have been a complete break.
I did add a Lakewood safety bellhousing after destroying the stock one when the driveshaft jumped the rear yoke and then struck the driveshaft safety loop bolts at the top end of the strip one night a few years ago. The shock of the driveshaft hitting those bolts split the bellhousing so bad that if the crack had progressed another 2 inches it would have been a complete break.
In the year one catalog it shows a plate between the engine block and flywheel to protect the block in the event of a flywheel or clutch breaking and damaging the engine block. I'm sure that is only for high performance engines.
6bblbird
Active Member
I would say no. They come with after market scattershields but not from the factory.
WF
FatJack
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If your are gonna dragrace it a lot the blowproof bellhousing is a good idea, the block plate should come with it. For street driving and occasional trips to the track not really needed.
65-440
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i dont think he is talking about a scattershield. its a thin peice of steel that slides over the engine dowls, goes all the way around the block, and has a hole in it for the starter to go through .... its called a separator plate. i know what you are talking about, not sure if the came on cars back then though ... !
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In the mid 70's, a buddy built a 289 Mustang w/4 speed. It only ran 12's but that was pretty good back then. No scatter shield or block plate cause he ran out of money and figured the high performance clutch setup he had wouldn't come apart. One day on the street he ran it up a bit shifting early and easy and when he was coasting down, all hell broke loose at 4500 rpm. It destroyed everything forward of the seats including his stereo. It took out the trans, cracked the crank, blew off the bell housing bolts taking pieces of the block and destroyed the headers. The body was full of holes from the frame rails, floor boards, firewall and cowl and some of the holes were pretty big. His shoes had marks from parts that barely got them. He was lucky....oh yeah, the windshield didn't survive either.
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That was my first time seeing results in person from a clutch explosion. Thing is, I had rode with him the day before and voiced my concerns about him not having a scatter shield. He just said, eh, it'll be OK. I did however, ride with my feet close to the seats instead of stretching out lol. Never realized how much damage something like that could cause. 4500 doesn't sound like much but many years later, I saw what 2000 looks like up close because I became a machinist about 6 years later and and was able to spin a straight pump shaft in a lathe at the 'low' speed of 2000 while standing in front of it and that's scary! Normal machining of a 17-4 PH shaft is a LOT slower than that but I wanted to see it maxed out without any tooling just to see what it looked like lol. The lathe would turn just a bit over that but seeing 2000 was enough!
bbeep69
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If you are just running a stock type setup you should be ok without a plate like that. The factory never installed one. BUT if you are planning on using your old, original flywheel I'd strongly suggest you invest in a SFI approved flywheel by an aftermarket vendor such as Centerforce or some other supplier. My old flywheel had a lot of small stress cracks in it and once I saw those I quickly shelled out the cash for the SFI forged billet flywheel. I also installed a 2 piece Lakewood hydrformed safety bellhousing which will contain a 7000 rpm clutch explosion. If you are concerned about safety I'd recommend the billet flywheel at the very least.
SUPERSTOCKRACER
Well-Known Member
Are you talking about a midplate, seperating the engine and transmission?
If so they are used to keep the motor and trans. from moving from excessive torque with high horsepower motors. It acts like a frontend limiter.
If so they are used to keep the motor and trans. from moving from excessive torque with high horsepower motors. It acts like a frontend limiter.
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