I'm working on a 440, 4 speed swap into my 73 challenger. I don't have a bellhousing yet, and i have a chance to get a lakewood scattershield with the block plate. This is going to be mostly a street driven car, but i want to be able to drive it hard. I'm shooting for 500-550 horsepower. Is it going to be a pain to get it to fit in the e body? will i have ground clearance issues (oklahoma has terrible roads)?

Since the scattersheild doesn't have an inspection cover, is this going to be a pain to inspect, set up a new clutch?

I'd be able to trade for some parts i already have. Total, it will cost me about a third of getting a new bellhousing from brewers.

Part of me is saying why not, its safer. But i'm not sure if it would help me get on the track. The SFI sticker says 2004, and if i had to trim the sides to clear the headers. It wouldn't be any good anyway. Will most tracks let you run 11.99 or faster with a scattershield even if the SFI is out of date, and possibly trimmed?

I friend of mine recently completed a 440 '72 "B" body using a Lakewood bellhousing. It was a major PITA. Headers, starter, you name it, it was harder due to the scattersheild. Personally I have a factory aluminum bellhousing in my 'Cuda. I do have an SFI flywheel. I shift at 6,000 rpm with the limiter set at 6,600.

Betcha those extra hours and dollars wouldn't seem like much if you couldn't drive a manual anymore
due to loss of extremities?

Has anyone actually installed a lakewood blow proof bellhousing on a 440 in a challenger with a stock firewall? will it fit without having to dent the firewall? I really don't want to have to dent the firewall, but i'll deal with the other fitment issues.

OK here's the deal.
There are two I know of.
One, and it seems the most common, is the "Lakewood"
"130/143 tooth" combo which never ever seems to have the starter nose cup with it.
It has an "extra" row of tabs along the top, and a full ring of bolt holes along the bottom arc for the block saver plate.
I refer to it as a combo because in theory you can bolt the starter nose cup in either of two positions,
one farther in towards the crank centerline, for the 130 tooth flywheel, one farther out for the 143 tooth.
The second flavor is for a 130 tooth flywheel only,
no dueling position deals, the starter nose cup is a hole machined into the bell itself, no separatable piece,I have heard these called "Ansen" blowproofs and they have NO block saver plate,nor is their a provision for one.
There is a third type I have seen, which is a 2 piece, but I do not think they were or are considered safe enough to contain a clutch or flywheel explosion (think split top half/bottom half with bolt together flanges midway)

NOW THEN...
The "Lakewood" combo will BARELY fit your e-body,
it will be darned near against the floor pan,and
you will not be able to lift the motor high enough for removal with the bell and trans left in the car.(DAMHIK).To get the motor in or out by itself you will have to remove the motor mounts and pull it forward level until it's clear of the bell and input shaft.
The "Ansen" is a "drop in" but you will have to monkey with your Z bar and linkage to get it right.I am pretty sure any brand 440 blowbell built for the 130 tooth flywheel ONLY will work the same.(69 and earlier "B"s can use the "bigger flywheel" one)
I know this stuff for a fact.I am sure there's more someone else can add, as this is all about older stuff that's like swap meet ancient speed parts.
Hope this helps,
Case

Anyone have anything to add to this?
Never even saw a response from the OP?
Am I on some weird "ignore" list?

Aha, I'm finally getting around to installing all this, was doing some more reading, and ran across my old post!

So far, i bolted up an extra 440 block to my lakewood and 23 spline 4 speed. It all dropped it just fine, and i cut out my old auto floor hump and welded in a new one. I did make a few cuts in the tunnel hump seam and pound it flat (who needs a full inch of seam running into the tunnel?)
I'm currently dealing with the zbar alignment. The bellhousing has a bracket with a ballstud on it, but it's putting the zbar at a severe angle in reference to the firewall. I'm going to try removing the bracket and seeing if i can screw a ball stud directly into one of the bracket mounting holes.

More updates soon if we get some decent weather.

You better check the run-out and make sure the mounting surface is parallel to the block face before you stuff it in there. I've never heard of one that couldn't use shims and dowels to line it up to the crank centerline correctly.

My 1970 e-body with Lakewood and block saver fits just fine. I installed it with the transmission off and it went right in. No problems. It is a bit tight near the headers and I had to notch it.

I had one in a B-body, tti headers, and the only problem I had was I had to make a 1" spacer to put the shift fork in a spot it would work.
Some "God" told me I should throw it away because he has a high horsepower car and he doesn't need it, it was junk. But they aren't his feet. It would also be gold if it belonged to him.
Oops. Unneded rant. I didn't have any fitment issues, other than the shift fork.

has anyone ever seen/heard of a mopar have a flywheel explosion? i have only heard about gm products having that happen.

Don Gartlis has. There was a guy I knew that saw a flywheel explode behind a 440 in a '74 Dodge pulling truck.

No, its not an e-body ...

Here's what I ran into putting the Lakewood in my '69 'runner:

1) Will hit the firewall flange/seam when the engine twists under acceleration - not a big deal, hammer the seam over or trim it.

2) The z-bar lines up decent BUT the arm closest to the bell had to be cut off and moved closer to the frame and the tube had to be shortened.

Ground clearance is only reduced by about an inch versus stock - due to the flange.
Test-fit your headers before you install the motor and grind the bell where necessary. This should not be an issue with tech inspections as it seems grinding, cutting or burning holes in these things is quite common with racers (from what I've seen at swapmeets!)

Thanks for the input guys. I was actually able to drop it in with a spare block mounted to the transmission. I just cut a few slits in the tunnel hump seam and hammered it flat. I have about an inch clearance around the bellhousing now. The torque shaft is still tilted in comparison to the firewall, will this be a problem? I cut an welded the clutch adjuster tab on the torque shaft over 1/2". It now clears the bellhousing when the pedal is sitting on its rubber stop.
I'll get some pictures tonight of the angle and you can guys tell me what you think.

Link to my newest issues with pictures

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...ID=#Post7670598