Even in my limited experience--CHECK IT
My old 440 sixpack car had that awful compact 10 7/8? 11"? clutch, and I had several problems with clean release over the years. I put over 140,000 on that car, but the original engine gave me most of these problems, AND WAS HARD ON pilot bushings Later in it's life, after I swapped in the 340--these problems simply went away
Three of my friends were involved with Lakewood shields in Jeep engine/ trans swaps. Every single one had quality control issues. The worst was to put a Ford toploader 4spd against a Buick V6. The bolt pattern on the face of the bell was ROTATED so that the transfer case hung down at a much greater angle than it should
"We" were not impressed.
It doesn't take very long to check one. Just set a dial up on the bell and check the flywheel for runout on the clutch face
Then set the dial up ON THE flywheel and you can check
The runout/ concentricity of the center hole bore
and reset the needle to the FACE of the bell to check for parallel to the block
Be sure to compensate for front/ rear movement of the crank play in the thrust