Scatter shield bell hosing on the 8BA block

[Ronnieroadster]

Since one of my passions has been Land Speed Racing a Ford flathead engine
at Bonneville there's a number of rules related to safety that require some creativity when a safety item part is not available. One safety rule requires a 1/4 inch thick steel shield to contain any flywheel and clutch failures from exiting the bellhousing area of the engine.
Here's a couple of pictures of how we address this containment rule. We start with a Lakewood SFI scatter shield made for the 289 -351 small block Ford.
With some effort we first transfer the 8BA dowl pin locations to the flange surface of the Lakewood bell. The important part of this step is to be sure the bell is as close to the crank shaft center line as possible. We ended up with .0005 off center well with in the tolerance needed.
With the dowl pin location set we then drill the 8BA bolt pattern on the bell housing. And then the final step is adding the bolt pattern for the flathead starter plate. Since the bell housing is 1/4 inch thick to hold the starter plate to the bell housing flange we simply tap the flange 5/16 coarse thread so no nuts are needed to hold the plate.
Two days of weekend work sessions and my son and I now have a bullet proof bell housing that meets the rules perfectly.
Ronnieroadster

 

[Bored&Stroked]

Hey Ronnie, that looks really great! I know what a pain in the butt it is to get something like this setup - nice job! Did you capture the key dimensions? I may have to hit you up for some of them at a later date. Don't you wish that somebody actually made one that is available for purchase - especially one that wasn't so big as the Lakewood is. I've used them before and modified the bottom to give more ground clearance - that lower "lip" is a real bugger (it really likes to get hung up on all sorts of things)!

 

[Ronnieroadster]

Hey Ronnie, that looks really great! I know what a pain in the butt it is to get something like this setup - nice job! Did you capture the key dimensions? I may have to hit you up for some of them at a later date. Don't you wish that somebody actually made one that is available for purchase - especially one that wasn't so big as the Lakewood is. I've used them before and modified the bottom to give more ground clearance - that lower "lip" is a real bugger (it really likes to get hung up on all sorts of things)!

Hi Dale
We actually made a template so we can do this again without to much effort in the future be happy to help when you need to do this. The bottom flange will be trimmed to match the starter plate shape so at least some additional clearance will be gained. This one is going into a 34 roadster with a step pan it should end up just above the pan hate to think its going to dig up that thin salt.
Ronnieroadster

 

[itslow]

Nice work.

Do the Quick Time bellhousings for the Flathead not meet requirements?

 

[Ronnieroadster]

Nice work.

Do the Quick Time bellhousings for the Flathead not meet requirements?

Thanks

The Quick time bellhousing has been out of stock for many months. No doubt import delays! One area of concern on the Quick time is the large openings along the rear surface not sure it would pass inspection seems parts could come out easily with the size of the openings.
I prefer a quality USA produced part for my race car including all the engine internals.
Ronnieroadster

 

[itslow]

...The Quick time bellhousing has been out of stock for many months. No doubt import delays!...

That's a bummer. At one time their R&D and manufacturing used to be in Iowa. I suppose that changed once it became a Holley-owned brand.

 

[Pete]

Ron, I wish you would have emailed me before you did that. I could have saved you some work. I have done several like that since the Lakewood housing first came out many moons ago.
The one I have in my roadster now is drilled for a B 4 banger also. I have also used it on an SBC as it was intended originally.
The super neat thing about all of that is a Richmond 5 race or T5 bolts right up.

It is a good plan to take a skin cut on the 8ba flange to square it with the crank. I had one that was .008 off.

 

[saltracer]

we used pieces of the Speedway kit to mount a C4 automatic to a flathead to adapt a Lakewood blow proof to our engine. The bellhousig mounted straight to the adapter and I used the center section from the flexplate adapter to convert to a SFI rated 302 sbf neutral balance flywheel. In our car (a fox body Mustang) this has worked really well as we are able to use the original cable mechanism to operate the clutch.

 

[V8COOPMAN]

we used pieces of the Speedway kit to mount a C4 automatic to a flathead to adapt a Lakewood blow proof to our engine. The bellhousig mounted straight to the adapter and I used the center section from the flexplate adapter to convert to a SFI rated 302 sbf neutral balance flywheel. In our car (a fox body Mustang) this has worked really well as we are able to use the original cable mechanism to operate the clutch. View attachment 505919

Hey Salty.... Those surely are some interesting headers. Maybe a brief description of the car would explain their FORWARD-facing exhaust. I'm a big advocate for a T5 in anything that ain't stock. Thanks!

Coop

 

[saltracer]

I am in the middle of relocating the turbo to the center forward and moving our water container to the rear of the car. In this car the headers just seemed to work better exiting in the front. It's a race car so I don't have to worry about mufflers and such.

 

[V8COOPMAN]

I am in the middle of relocating the turbo to the center forward and moving our water container to the rear of the car. In this car the headers just seemed to work better exiting in the front. It's a race car so I don't have to worry about mufflers and such. View attachment 505923View attachment 505924

Hey Salty.... Man, the differences in the plumbing (even the cooling water) between the two iterations is interesting, to say the least. Really appreciate your reply with pictures!

Coop

.

 

[Ronnieroadster]

Another great example of forward thinking pushing the flathead into the 21st Century
Saltracer setting more records at Bonneville.
Ronnieroadster

 

[Bored&Stroked]

Hey Salty - really nice work!

I may contact you to learn a bit more about the "pieces and parts" that you used for the scatter-shield, flywheel, clutch and starter setup - looks like a nice configuration!

Merry Christmas to you - hope you have a great Holiday season!