Ok, if you have followed the slow progress on my 67 L89 build, you know I had some issues getting the Lakewood bellhousing aligned back in Nov. Well, I got that figured, tranny bolted up and then installed the engine/tranny combo a week or so ago.

The problem now is, the tranny is too far back, and it seems that the Lakewood clutch fork will definitely not work. Everything seems to have shifted about a 1/2 in. to almost 3/4 of an inch towards the rear of the car. Tranny mount will not line up, and the clutch fork is almost against the firewall.

After looking it over again last night, I am now wondering if the Lakewood housing just simply won't fit. The block plate sets it back slightly, and the housing itself seems to be about 6 1/2 inches in depth, compared to the stock aluminum housing at 6 inches in depth. Between the 2 Lakewood pieces, it seems I found the issue with everything not lining up.
(thanks JohnZ for leading me in the right direction there... )

Ok, so what to do now? I could take it all apart and remove the Lakewood housing, but then what to use for a motor with over 500 HP? Is there another housing to look at? I see that Keisler is making their own Alum unit. I can check with them to see if it is stronger than the stock gm units. Any other thoughts???

Also, what to do with the Lakewood offset dowels I installed in the blcok, if I do go another route and use a different bellhousing? Should I go back to the original dowels?

Thanks for any feedback you can provide...

Rob

 

Rob do you have to use the block plate? I know there are people running the lakewood shield. One is right here in town. I saw it this spring. I don't know his name but it was a 66 hardtop BB car. The paint looked original but I looked up under there and he had a lakewood shield in there with the BB and 4spd.. Dave..

 

Dave, good question. They tell you that you have to in order for the warranty to be in place. I am not sure though, maybe running it without would work?

BTW, do you need a hand with anything next week? I have off work the entire week and hope to get some stuff done. Let me know if you need help with any work you are doing, or if you need the rotating stand.

 

Rob, thanks for the offer man.. I talked to Shelberg and he said something about meeting up for a late lunch since both of you slackers have off next week..

As for the stand I needed one before I could get by so I just bought one..

Have you posted over in the Shark side.. There are bunches of guys over there running lakewood shields... Dave...

 

Rob,

My car has an after market shield on it. It was on the car when I got it . Im pretty sure its a lakewood. Ive had the engine and trans. out of the car and back in with no problems. I dont remember any spacer being on it.
Jeff

 

The block plate is just to contain any flywheel/clutch explosion. You can certainly run without it but I wouldn't think that is going to buy you much clearance.

I feel your pain. While not a Corvette I fought the Lakewood issues in my Camaro race car when it was a stick. But I had no choice and had to make it work. And I was glad I had it in place everytime I launched at 6000rpm.

Are you racing this car? If it's a street car I wouldn't ever hassle with an aftermarket bellhousing. But if you're racing it and are making enough power for the NHRA to require an SFI shield then you better do it right and use the block plate. Ever see pictures of what can happen when a clutch explodes?

-gw

 

 

Get rid of the "Lakewood" fork and slap the fool thats sold it to you USE A FACTORY CORVETTE FORK as to the block saver, I have NEVER used on on the street or on the track.
...redvetracr

 

Nope, it won't be raced, just driven for fun and ocassionally a little hard.

My original thought was to be on the safe side and install the shield, just in case. But after all the headaches I have had with it, I am about to toss it in the trash.....well, ebay it maybe.

Jeff B, so you have a shield on your car? How close is your clutch fork to the firewall? I know for a fact that the d*mn Lakewood fork isn't going to work. (redvetracr, I am trying to figure out what phone person at a huge mailorder company sold me that fork so I can go slap them.... )

So, I am left with taking atleast the tranny out to get to the fork and bearing to put in my gm fork. I am also seriously contemplating buying a gm alum housing and going back to that. I'd be interested in getting everyones feedback on going back to that???

 

Absolutely! The Lakewood clutch fork is junk, and has the wrong geometry - don't EVER use their fork! Use the GM fork, and it'll work.

 

I am hoping to get that swapped out here in a few days first. I am hoping that takes care of the issue with the fork. Just not sure about the tranny mount though.

 

Rob isn't Shelberg running a lakewood on his 69 BB? Didn't you help him with the installation of the 5spd and I thought I remember you guys bitchin about that shield then.. Maybe I'm wrong.. If he did though the frame geometry is the same so how did it mate up???

 

I didn't help him, that was Tom Buddie, but I do remember the same issues he had. We chatted about this last week. He said his clutch fork did the same think and rested on the firewall, but I think he used the standard GM fork. Once the linkage was on, with the springs, it all straightened up for him. He didn't remember having the problem with the tranny mount though.

 

Might be a silly question, but did you have to use an extended input shaft for the Trans? If the Trans is sitting farther back, and motor mounts have not been changed, wouldn't the geometry be to "long", thus setting the input shaft to far back to interface the crank?