Help needed with Lakewood Scattershield

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SSG_Karg

SSG_Karg

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72 Duster, smallblock, A833, Hays Street/Strip clutch.
So I had a factory aluminum bell on and swapped in the Lakewood bell. Before the swap clutch worked perfectly. Now I’m not getting enough departure to get it into gear. Reused same factory fork and the pivot that came with the Lakewood bell. I verified that the fork is tucked into the throwout bearing spring clips and the fork is clipped into the pivot. The bearing is set to approximately 1/4” away from the clutch fingers at rest.
Is there something I missed when installing the Scattershield?
The block plate is in place also.

BFBC8251-67F9-4A20-8581-1F925F9DF5A8.jpeg


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Just some stuff to look at.
Bell crank and linkage tight and lined up? A height difference between the two pivots possible? A shorter mounting boss on the Lakewood? Add in the block saver thickness.
 
Thanks Dave. One thing that did seem suspicious to me is that when I went to reinstall the pushrod between the z-bar and the clutch fork, it needed to be adjusted wayyy out toward the end of the pushrod. Would that indicate the pivot bracket is too short? I could possibly add a spacer under it but that looks like it would be a royal pain in the *** to work through the window of the bell.
 
I am having a little brain fade on this one, but didn't Lakewood have a specific clutch fork for their bell housings at one time? I know it varies from one manufacturer to another, but I am wanting to say it used to be part of the package with some of them.
 
Many years ago when I ran one on my 70 340 Duster I encountered the same thing. I never tried spacing the pivot out but what I had to do was add to the adjustment rod.
 
I’ll pull the fork out tonight and measure it but I’m pretty sure that since it was working before the bell swap that it’s the correct fork.
The adjustment rod did not need lengthening because I was already using the longer one (I think the B/E bodies used it). But now it is almost maxed out on the threads.
 
If everything in the linkage, flywheel, cover, fork, and release bearing is the same, I'm thinking it's got to be the pivot point that has changed. What's left?
 
I just encountered similar issue when changing from stock flywheel to thinner Hays billet flywheel. I added a 3/16" spacer to pivot mount to get my correct geometry back (did not want to just lengthen z-bar to fork rod, to "make it work"). Adding spacer was actually no problem at all, work room was adequate. The hard part was reinstalling fork. I had to slightly enlarge front of bell opening (work room NOT adequate, ha ha) to be able to squeeze fork over pivot and on bearing. Came out perfect, though.
 
65wgn440 said:
I just encountered similar issue when changing from stock flywheel to thinner Hays billet flywheel. I added a 3/16" spacer to pivot mount to get my correct geometry back (did not want to just lengthen z-bar to fork rod, to "make it work"). Adding spacer was actually no problem at all, work room was adequate. The hard part was reinstalling fork. I had to slightly enlarge front of bell opening (work room NOT adequate, ha ha) to be able to squeeze fork over pivot and on bearing. Came out perfect, though.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply.
I think I’m going to make a 3/8” thick spacer to go under the pivot and test.
 
Measure the fork pivot to engine mounting surface of the original bellhousing, then compare to the Lakewood and add the thickness of the block saver plate, I'll bet you'll find a difference.
 
daliant said:
Measure the fork pivot to engine mounting surface of the original bellhousing, then compare to the Lakewood and add the thickness of the block saver plate, I'll bet you'll find a difference.
Click to expand...
That may be very difficult with everything assembled.
 
Solved!
Took the fork pivot out to install a shim under it and compared it to the pivot still attached to my stock bellhousing. “What’s this?” I’ll be damned, they’re different.
Seems that the one that came with the Lakewood is this one Brewer's Performance - Mopar A833 4-Speed Transmission and Component Specialists smallblock B/E body or BB abody.
Put the pivot from my stock bell into the Lakewood, adjusted free play, fired that mother up and she slid right into gear!
I wish I would have taken a picture of the two side by side before I put it together but I wasn’t thinking it would make enough difference. There was probably only 3/8” height difference between them but I guess that’s all it takes to throw everything off.
Thanks for your input guys.
Time for burnouts!
 
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