I'm well on my way to gathering all the parts needed for swapping in a 4 speed on my Dart Sport.
I've already got a factory aluminum bellhousing.
While I won't be racing the car due to no nearby tracks, I still plan on some acceleration testing from time to time on the back roads.
My 340 is making a little over 400 horsepower. I've got the rev limiter set at 6250 rpm.
I'm already planning on buying an SFI approved billet flywheel and pressure plate, hoping to avoid clutch explosions.
That being said, do I really need a scattershield?

Need? Hard to say, but if you're erring on the side of caution with and SFI-approved flywheel, you may as well go ahead and use a scattershield. You can easily sell the Al BH to re-coup some of the cost.

In my opinion no! If you have good parts and a rev limiter the odds of having a failure will be very minimal. Look at all of the factory cars with 400+ hp and they use an aluminum bellhousing if it was not safe they surely would not be using them to avoid a lawsuit. Most failures you hear of are on race cars that are driven hard and if that is its main purpose them absolutly you need a safety bell and engine block plate. I asked the same question myself a few years back and got the same answer from most guys do you like your right foot. But again how many factory muscle cars came or come with a safety bellhousing??? Now if you are going to be putting slicks on something and going for broke at the track then yes get the scattershield, but if you are a street jockey 99% of the time then not worth the headaches in my opinion. I had a lakewood on my gtx and removed it in favor of a lightweight factory aluminum unit and feel very safe with it for my use.

The Lakewood's run around 3-400$. I used one on mine (440 4spd Demon) think it's woth every penny.

One other variable to consider is that tire technology has changed significantly since our muscle cars were built. What was quite safe with the tires built 40 years ago may or may not be safe with today's tires.

Most of the stock rubber on these new mustangs and corvetts are better than anything that was available back in the day. I have an SFI flywheel,good clutch and pressure plate with quality hardware and a rev limiter and feel my setup is pretty strong. If I was running slicks and popping the clutch at 4000+ rpm then yes the shield would be a required item for safety.

no scattershield required...sfi flywheel and a good clutch is all you need

No 6 grand launches, no scattershield necessary.

I say why chance it? When you miss a gear or break a transmission the heavy flywheel/plate assy.weighs in at close to 50 pounds and it carries alot of inertia that will surpass the rev limiter.I have a 6800 chip on the high side and my recall tach has been over 7400 when I missed a gear.If you don't have anything now I would go with a Quicktime bell.
Gus

When I disassembled my Hemi RR back around 1985 to restore it, I took one look at the floor & firewall and put a scattershield in it. The shrapnel that punched holes through the floor made enough of an impression on me, and those cars had cast-iron bellhousings.

u dont need a seatbelt eather dont go over 5mph

According to an old mopar mag of mine, Don Johnson wouldn't drive the Nash Bridges 'Cudas without scattershields installed on the 4 speed cars.

Better safe than sorry. I use one on every stick car I own. Whats the going rate for a new foot?

I run a lakewood in my GTX. I figure my legs are worth more than $400 bucks. I told a friend of mine who was kicking the same thing, I told him that I would give him $400 if I could cut his right leg off at the knee. He joined the scattersheild club.

If you put on a lakewood, check the location and position of the fork arm mount as they have been WAY off in some cases.

If you run a lakewood you may also need to do some triming depending on your exhaust system Here is a picture of some trimming I had to do on the lakewood that I removed on my gtx.

I run one on my 73 440 Duster. Seems like a good idea. Dave

Maybe you will not need it, but......do you want to take the chance, I always use them on street cars, better safe than crippled.

Joey

Have one on my Dart.