[prostreet6t9]

That last pic of the 727 TF.. I've seen driveline do that... Thats a bad day!

[painted jester]

In the 60s a good friend of mine ran a 58 vette with a '64 409 and M22 and had a nodular Iron bell housing,when he nailed second the flywheel sheered all the bolts and took out the bell, it came through the floor and took his leg off at the knee shredding his leg like hamburger! It bounced off the door panel tearing it to pieces and took his chin with it as it went out the passenger window and top! The pieces of the bell and trans took out his rear slick and tore off the rear quarter and half the rear deck!

It only takes one time to learn a lesson but when that lesson is learned its too late!!

Jester

[vinniekq2]

wow! sorry pro street! I didnt expect so much in the way of death and destruction....

[timothale]

My brother cut holes in the firewall for access to get the bolts out fast. A breaker bar to loosen, then a speed wrench.

[painted jester]

Originally Posted by vinniekq2

wow! sorry pro street! I didnt expect so much in the way of death and destruction....

He still raced after that accident (automatics only) LOL!
Murphy's Law:"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong" There's nothing wrong with thinking things out!

If I set a coffee on the edge of the bench and think man that might fall, and then think na it will be ok for a second my hands are full! And 2 seconds later (crash) After 50 years of those Murphy's Law moments you put things down and move the cup!!!! LOL We all have had those moments!

Jester

[Deathmunchy]

wow...I've never heard of this before. Happy I got to see it before I've even started. Another something to add to the list of parts definitely.

[1Gary]

Originally Posted by vinniekq2

I bought a scattershield for my car.I doubt I will drag race my car,and it didnt cost that much. If you have a cast bell housing they are decent and would likely stop a disc.Ive never seen a flywheel come unglued. I remember when I was a teen and reading about Don Garlits losing part of his foot. I also use an SFI approved balancer. I just dont see any reason to cut corners with safety equipment.
Like you said though,the saggy will likely break before anything else. Have fun at the track,,,,

The part about safety Vinnie,I'm with you 200%.

[prostcelica]

The world is a funny place. I was laying in bed last night watching the last few minutse of PINKS. A 70's chevelle pulled into the burnout box and proceeded to warm his tires and then BANG!! His clutch or fly wheel let go and came into the drivers compartment. The guy was ok put what ever came through the floor left a grape friut size hole in the tin. This was literally 6 hrs after my budyy said to me "your an idiot if you even think about using that stock bell housing"

I've already texted that I will come by later to grab that scatter sheild from him.

[bentwings]

I've seen 2 cars totally destroyed by clutch explosions. A 55 chev and a 57 chev. Both were nearly cut in half. both had "only" mild 283 cu in motors.

Back in the old days we were running a blown BBC in a dragster. We had a full scatter shield with a block plate. The clutch let go right in the lights and blew the whole mess off the block along with one of the rear cylinders. It spun around and cut the car in half less one fram rail. So much for that car and motor.

2 years ago, middle of the night on the way home from work in my 1 ton dually at about 55 mph the clutch let go. Fortunately the bellhousing is pretty stout on diesel trucks and the rpm was only 1900 so it was fully contained but it scared the heck out of me. It wiped out the entire clutch and flywheel and input shaft. $1400 So much for that weeks work. hahah

Get a scatter shield.....and put all the bolts in. I agree with Tech..no bolts no run.

[malc]

The man in the black hat is Larry Sutton, long time Lion´s employee.

[1Gary]

Been away from stick shift racing for a longtime.I did grow up through the times of clutch failures and some pretty horrific blow-ups.Also grew up through the development of automatic trans blankets. Lakewood sold cans for stick cars. Auto trannies can do as much damage without a blanket.

Our racing operation has one rule above NHRA or IRHA's rule books. It is there isn't a race won or loss that is worth safety risks. Our driver found out how serious we are about that.We have warned him a number of times with him giving us lame excuses him slacking off on things like arm restraints and belts etc. So with one round to go to get to the top four,we benched him and packed it in to go home. Told him the next time he was going to get fired. No excuses.

Tech-got a question for you.How does a mid-plate play out for a stick shift car??. As long as it is thick enough does it replace the block plate??.

[prostreet6t9]

Originally Posted by vinniekq2

wow! sorry pro street! I didnt expect so much in the way of death and destruction....

When the rear of the shaft comes loose at 100+ and your not lucky enough for the shaft to slide out of the Trans... It gets ugly. The Trans gets torn off the block and the converter torn off the flywheel. Thats a bad sign when your converter falls out at the end of the track !

That almost looks like what happened to the 727 auto in that pic.

[techinspector1]

Originally Posted by 1Gary

Tech-got a question for you.How does a mid-plate play out for a stick shift car??. As long as it is thick enough does it replace the block plate??.

No, here's the rule....

"Where SFI Spec bellhousings are mandatory, all applicable liners, large mounting fasteners, motor plates, etc., as required by SFI Specs or the
manufacturer, must be properly installed."

Where SFI Spec bellhousings are NOT mandatory, as in cars that run 11.50 or slower, you could use the mid plate in place of a motor plate and be legal.

That's the way I read it. If you have further questions about this, I'll put a call in to the Division Tech Director and get confirmation for you.

[Silver Surfer]

Always wondered how a Tech Inspector verifies the clutch is SFI approved without removing the trans. I suppose you could remove the inspection plate on the bottom of the bellhousing and use a mirror or something (of course that is on a SBC, not sure if other motors have that inspection plate).

[techinspector1]

Originally Posted by Silver Surfer

Always wondered how a Tech Inspector verifies the clutch is SFI approved without removing the trans. I suppose you could remove the inspection plate on the bottom of the bellhousing and use a mirror or something (of course that is on a SBC, not sure if other motors have that inspection plate).

The guy who is serious enough about racing to need an SFI clutch will have the SFI paperwork on all his parts, laminated in plastic and kept in the trailer. If they have no paperwork, I start gettin' nosy and will have them take it apart if necessary. But you can usually tell if a racer is legit about the clutch by inspecting the rest of the car. If the car is a rag, I'll put him on the trailer and send him home anyway. If all else is "jake", then I won't worry about it too much. These guys understand that they could die from faulty parts.