Adjusting a McCleod Clutch with a Lakewood Scatter shield?

Ok, so I usually adjust my clutches by pulling the inspection cover and use a feeler gauge to set the disc gap.

I just installed a new clutch & pressure plate and swapped the stock bell housing for a Lakewood scatter shield with the block plate which covers everything so no access to the disc to check. How are you Lakewood owners making your adjustments>

I drilled a 1/2 inch hole in the bottom of the last single piece scatter shield I had aligned with the tranny side of the flywheel That worked well for using the feeler gauge
I ended deciding to adjust the free travel on the clutch pedal so it had about 1/4 to 3/8 inch free play all the way up with it all the way out and that allowed me to speed shift the slick and pro shifted drag racing tranny( a long time ago) very nicely from then on

make up a feeler gauge brazed/welded on a long metal rod to fit inside the clutch fork opening. I used a .080 piece of sheet metal welded on an 1/8 welding rod for power shifting a pro/slick shifted 833. A street car can probably get by with less. It will take 2 people since I'm guessing you don't have a removable transmission cover.

You could send your Lakewood shield to Chris Hyatt. He can add a window and recert. for you.

Chris Hyatt did mine, and it was very reasonable.

I did not have it certified, as I don't race much.

A couple of pics of the access hole/cover.

Mark

I drilled a hole in the back of mine on the passenger side of the trans. Welded a elen head socket to a long 3/8 extension. Wrote on the bottom of the Bell housing the timing marks I need to align to adjust it the clutch. Worked good.

I drilled a 1" hole using a hole saw in the bottom of my lakewood, checked it only a couple times. Wast of time in my opinion. I adjust the peddle so the pressure plate starts to engage about a 1" off the floor.

If your setting air gap, don't bother.

Set the pedal with an inch of free play and you'll be golden. If you don't ride the clutch, you can use half an inch.

I haven't set air gap since 1980.

Lockjaw....Nice clutch!


Thanks for all of your input guys. Its a street car but I might take it to the track on occasion which is why I may send it out to have a window put in and have it re-certified. For now I guess I'll just try the 1.00 pedal free play route.

On another note I have to say, these Lakewoods could have used a little more finishing concerning engineering and fitment. I've had to grind on some flange areas to get the Z-bar pivot mount to fit flush, drill a hole and grind away material for the clutch return spring, and am still not convinced that the clutch fork pivot is properly located using the stock bolt in bracket.Have any of you used the adjustable fork pivot that Lakewood makes? Any other helpful input on properly aligning the Z-bar and other linkage? This is a 71 Demon, stock 340 block with TTI headers, mini starter, stock style 4 speed transmission with the small bearing retainer using the Lakewood supplied spacer ring to fill the hole.

Not a lot of options out there besides Lakewood and Quicktime, which are both owned by the same company. I have had many cars with Lakewood shields in them. The Z bar is never in perfect alignment. The adjustable clutch pivot is for a Ford, maybe a Chevy setup. I have never found an aftermarket fork for a Mopar, and I never really tried to retrofit with one of the others, although it has crossed my mind. There are no replacement Mopar clutch forks out there. The earlier bracket designs were already riveted in, that was fun! You will really enjoy trying to get the shield in and out once the headers and exhaust are all bolted in.

Well the good news is that I have it in (for about the 5th time) due to the required bearing hole alignment process, yea, big fun with the TTi's (have I ever said I hate headers? Well, for the record, I DO!).

So the clutch is bolted ion, shield and plate are bolted in, starter is installed (Now THAT was fun!). So the heavy lifting is over for now unless I hit another roadblock getting the clutch fork working properly. It looks ok so far but I'll learn more when I stab the transmission in later today.... Stay tuned.

You may need to space the fork pivot forward a little. Depends on the finger height of the pressure plate. If the fork angle looks wrong then a 1/4" to 3/8" thick spacer might be needed.

The reason that the Lakewood does not line up in a stock car is because it was designed to use their motor mounts...their old motor mounts lift the front of the engine by 3/4”. I have installed two of them, and one engine had the old Lakewood solid motor mounts.

I used Andy’s (AR Engineering) front motorplate, and shim the motorplate by 1/2”, and both the ‘68 Superbee and my ‘69 GTX are right on the money for z-bar installation!!!

I called Lakewood, and they told me that the Bell was designed many years ago, and my experience did not surprise them.

I would rather have a mechanical clutch linkage because I have had problems with Hydraulic TB in the past...they either leak or blow out.

My 2 cents.

Mark

Another thing I forgot to mention: the block saver will be pushed out toward the bottom by the oil pan rubber seal causing the bellhousing to block alignment to be off. You should notch out the area around it so the block saver sits flush against the engine block and not pushed away from it. That is the only way to make it fit correctly as the rubber oil pan seal probably sticks out by 3/8" or so at least that's my experience with every aftermarket bellhousing I've used.

Funny you should mention that. I did noticed that the seal pushed the plate out a bit, made me scratch my head but I figured it would be ok when tightened up. I installed the bell housing with the plate in place and did the front bearing adjustment with it all torqued in place so I'm assuming it will all be ok? It's all bolted up solid now and appears to be ok.....

There are 2 different length adjusting rods that go from the Z bar to the fork. 1 is supposed to be A body and the other B/E body. Don't get messed up with Mopar's designation. Sometimes you need the longer one, sometimes you need the shorter one. A sbc rocker pivot ball makes for a great pivot bushing against the fork. Just keep it greased. The nylon and rubber crap that comes in the Mopar kit is a bunch of junk.

While it may appear to "be ok" it isn't and will not be right until you notch the block saver to fit the oil pan seal. Your car, your parts, but I would never run it that way... Best of luck to you, your gonna need it if you don't fix it right...

I had my block plate hit the lifter oil galley plugs. Had to put some holes in plate to clear the plugs.

Update! I have now removed everything back down to the block, starting over after a trip to the machine shop to have the required mods done to this pile of garbage they call a finished "product". I swear it makes me want to design a true bolt on bell housing that actually fits with nothing more than hand tools. What a joke!

Put me at the top of the list to buy one if you do.

But I doubt you'll sell more than 3 of them. Sticks are going the way of the doo doo bird. Most people under 40 can't even drive a stick.

You might want to call Lakewood on the re-cert of the bellhousing. Putting in a window, drilling holes and grinding might just cancel any recertification hopes. On a positive note, I have never been asked or had a tech guy look for a sticker on my Lakewood in 50 years. Yes I bought it back in 1968 and still using it. Is it out of cert? LOL

I'm only doing this to keep my feet safe so its getting cut regardless, if I need to get it certified maybe I'll look into that later.

Any chance a trans blanket like an automatic uses would work? Not tough enough?

If the car is 11.50 or slower you don't even need a scatter shield to be NHRA legal.

You can modify your bell housing at slower than 11.50 and probably not have an issue.

11.49 and quicker, you need the can and it must be certified (no one ever asked me either) and you can drill a 1 inch hole in the face OR the bottom, not both.

Last time I checked, Lakewood will put a window in and recert it for $275.00 and the guy said if I did ANY modifications to it they most likely wouldn't recert it.

Don't think a blanket would help.

Hello I wanted to add I have had several lakewoods thru the years
on alot of them have had to tweek the fork pivot to help alignment with the bearing ears and link from the zbar. have had to cut and weld it to a new position to get it just right on a couple - there far from perfect.
Good luck - be patient you'll get it!

Oh I've been patient, I'm just PO'd that its so poorly engineered in the details. For instance; If the clutch pivot is off when will this be evident? Right after it's 100% installed and I try the pedal. If it's not on target? All of it has to come off yet AGAIN to weld or it etc......Good grief!

Oh yeah I know the feeling
I think the key is don't get a big hurry to complete

Walk away when it turns to $hit - I know a couple of times when I was younger I felt like bustin every window in the damn thing out-

use a empty trans when working out the linkage and fork movement

I know I'm late, but here is my Lakewood.

Do you have a window in the bottom or are you just going to adjust base pressure through the hole in the face?

Well it wouldn't be "bolt on - ready to install" if you didn't have to do some kind of fabrication work to get the part to function properly.

But seriously, I have a Lakewood in my Dart. I never looked at the clearance between the block plate and the oil pan gasket. I will have to look at it when I get a chance. I just adjusted my clutch according to pedal travel and feel. The Z-bar does seem to have some weird geometry going on. From what was mentioned before, that makes sense about the engine mounts. That would change the geometry of things.

Always something.

Here is a picture of the Cover that I made for the inspection cover.

Also, I have never been asked by NHRA tech for a Certification sticker for any of my bell housings over the years. They only asked if it was a steel SFI Bell...well it was until I cut the hole in the bottom.

My 2 cents, Mark

Chris Hyatt can add an inspection hole/cover and also recertify the housing all in house. I don't know if there are specific areas that he can window. That, you would have to ask him. But I don't see a reason why a window couldn't be added to the underside for a stock floor. Race setups are done at about the 2 o'clock position because it is adjusted from the inside of the car.

Yeah, brings back memories. I had to re-engineer the Lakewood housing that I have in my Coronet. It had to be fly cut since it wasn't square and then I built my own Z bar so it would be correct. I had to build my own pivot point inside the housing to get the geometry correct. The starter pocket also had to be redesigned in order to get the starter to fit correctly. Lakewood builds junk and they have since the 60's. I doubt there is anyone at Lakewood who has actually tried to build a car using their own parts.

Lockjaw, can you offer some locations and dimensions for your plate cover and hole mods? I'm taking mine to the machine shop to have him fab it up.

Anyone have a pic of a modified block plate cut for the rubber seal clearance?

If you didnt have yours already there are some older anson units that can still cert that are leaps ahead in fit and finish.

Anyone have an Ansen for a small block? Ill step up.

I've never seen an Ansen that was worth bothering with. There wasn't many made. They weren't that good.

I only use Ansens, but I only use big blocks so I can't tell you if I have even seen a small block Ansen. They are the only one that can accept the factory big block A-Body spacer and bellcrank...