I am currently in the restoration process of an AA fuel dragster. The car was originally built in 63 for the 64 season. I can still call and talk to the original owner who built and raced the car up until 1969. He claims that the car had a 1950 3-speed Oldsmobile ******. I purchased the car this fall (not from him) and it came with a pile of parts. I began piecing together what I had and in the pile of stuff is a Lakewood ****tershield. Below I have attached pictures. My question is, can anybody identify the ****ter shield? It appears to me that the ****ter shield is made for a direct drive setup not an Oldsmobile ******. I'm new to the direct drive setup and what they would have used back in the day. The bolt pattern on the ****ter shield is what makes me think it is for a direct drive, not a transmission. I know it could have been thrown into the pile of stuff and could have never been in the car but all the brackets coming off the ch***is work great and the clutch pedal lines up perfectly. Thanks for anybody's input!
no help -seen and owned what now would be old! ****tershields...but NEVER seen one that " crude" looking- does it say anything mentioning ' hydroformed' on a tag etc?
I was looking into them years ago, trying to date one that appeared pretty early, best I could tell the "modern" design (like the one laying on the ground in your photo, but without the block plate holes) started around 1966.
I don’t see any welds on that ****ter shield, not even where the flange that bolts to the block meets the shield area, is it in fact one piece? But really, any welds could be hiding under that rust. If it is one piece than it was hydroformed, oh, and one more thing. No one ever ran a ‘50 Olds three speed in a AA/FD especially in 1964. I see an Airheart master cylinder, are there Airheart calipers too?
IIRC, there was no Lakewood bellhousing when Frank got the ch***is from me. Perhaps Frank got the bell housing from the original builder as I know he was in contact with him. if you are just making a "Cackle " car, the ch***is appears to be okay. If you intend to run the car, the bottom ch***is rails are soft. Are there identification numbers on the ****ter shield ? IIRC, Joe Schubeck, ( Lakewood Ch***is ) is still around. If so, try contacting him for any possible info.
Can you post a pic of the ******? Try to use the full image when posting. Makes it simple to get larger pics.
clutch can (****tershield) and some kind of driveshaft shield, the black one off to the side is a hydro formed Ansen or Lakewood for a trans.
Either Frank got the bellhousing from Jack the builder or it was something he threw in the pile to make it seem more complete. Just planning on cackling the car. Patched some of the ch***is where it was bad but should never be run down the track again. The ****ter shield says "Lakewood Ch***is Inc" and the identification numbers on the shield are ABS-132. Thanks Nick!
All you have is a clutch can. As you said direct drive. Looks hydro formed to me. Something was mounted on the top. Take it apart and if there are any welded nuts . I’m guessing there is some kind of “slipper” clutch. Look at the pedals mechanical advantage ratio!
I had a Lakewood on my first FED. It was for a push start car, no where to put a starter. I was told they ran a blown BBC on it with a Chevy 3 speed manual. The tail shaft on the trans had been shortened. A tab had been welded on it so it would not go into first, raced seconded and third. Two levers, reverse, second and third. It did not look like either of your pics. It had a shaft that ran all the way through the top half of the bell with a throw out bearing fork on it. Sorry no pics.
Mr Grodi960, Would you be able to provide the dimension from where the clutch can in question bolts to the back of the block to where the torque tube mounts to it?
@Grod1960 1960 We had one thing that was a safety item, approved by all racing groups for compe***ion. Behind and above the bellhousing, was a two piece ****tershield. The bottom unit bolted on and the curved top portion fit over the bellhousing and bolted on to the bottom plate. Note: If you raced after 1964 and did not suffer a horrendous blowout, thank Joe Shubeck… Hello, We had the unfortunate experience of having a heavy duty clutch with no more than 25 runs with SBC carb motor power to a 671 292 c.i. blower spec motor until it let go. It was after getting to the final elimination race in August 1960. The same clutch company in Long Beach was where all of the local drag racers had gone to get their custom built heavy duty clutch for their race cars. It was a few blocks from our old high school. It was installed behind a 283 SBC slightly modified motor with 6 Strombergs in our initial 1940 Willys Coupe build. It ran well on the street and for the two months of racing, performed well for a dual purpose modified, street legal coupe. We kept the same drive line for our next rebuild to a larger 292 SBC blower spec motor with a 671 supercharger and again, it performed quite well. It was an impressive set of elimination rounds. Until the clutch let go just about at the timing lights and a resulting fire caused 3rd degree burns on my brother. The incident was view by a lot of people and we saw it from the starting line, some racers told us later that from their view on the return road, it was horrendous. Jnaki If you have a doubt, a solid Lakewood Industries 360 degree steel enclosure has saved plenty of lives after it was on the public market. We missed that development by several years. Our legally inspected two piece ****tershield was what was sold at the time to most racers. But, we had a hard time finding all of the pieces (if any) of that ****tershield on the track and/or where the Willys was stuck in the fence. Note 2: From a previous thread: ...If Joe Schubeck’s invention was around back in 1960, we would still be involved in drag racing for many more years to come. We may have still been in the hot rod industry of some kind. His invention prevented many exploding clutches as strong as the clutch could be made, from flying all over the place. It was able to enclose the remaining parts inside of the 360 degree catch-all metal shield. This was a real “****tershield.” My hat is off to Joe Schubeck for his ingenious development and that every time I see that red FED, silently, I thank him for saving tons of racers lives from the ravages of exploding clutches and flying metal pieces in all drag race cars. Sorry, you did not invent it in early 1960. “I had built my own tubular ch***is,” explained Schubeck. “that was the first tube ch***is in 1958, and then in 1959, I rounded up a bunch of people that wanted them. So, I found myself in business. I called it Lakewood Ch***is Company.” "One of the most difficult pieces to construct was the aluminum transmission bell housing. He knew there had to be a better way to manufacture the part and while visiting a fabrication shop in Cleveland, he learned about a machine called the Hydroform." "Through persistence and hard work, he developed a die to put in the Hydroform and 20 seconds after the engineer flipped on the machine, Schubeck was holding a gorgeous, seamless, aluminum bell housing. It was a tremendous product. His old friend, Jack Harris knew what it might mean to the industry. Across the country, drag racing was plagued with flywheel and clutch explosions. Chunks of cast iron were flying into the grandstands, blowing cars in half, sometimes proving fatal for drivers and spectators." “It was obvious that what I needed was to make a bellhousing out of steel,” said Schubeck, “and Jack Harris told me: “If you could make that thing out of steel and it will contain that clutch, you would have a multi-million dollar product on your hands.” "The catch to developing such a coveted product was that Schubeck was going to have to retire as a driver. He reluctantly stepped away from the ****pit, and the move paid off. Before long, he had two shifts going seven days a week, putting skid loads of new steel bell housings on trucks." Note 3 Thanks @wheeltramp brian Our similar unit was purchased at Reath Automotive in Long Beach, CA (similar to the ad below) The curved, metal ****tershield would bolt on to the bellhousing, while the lower plate would go underneath the housing with the provided brackets. When it was installed, it looked like it would withstand a hand grenade explosion. The modified, floorboard was neatly attached back in place and we were almost ready to go racing. Our ****tershield was 1959-60 model that was the standard protection unit for drag racers at the time. A year later, the full 360 degree complete ****tershield was made by Joe Shubeck for better protection and safety. by 1964, it was pure safety for all racers with 360 degree coverage. The dragstrip approved two piece ****tershield was part of our build. It had protected us from any problem as installed. But, the power of an exploding clutch from extreme horsepower, 292 c.i. 671 powered SBC blew that shield to bits. When we looked inside of our 40 Willys , the next day at while it was still wedged into the fence, that shield was nowhere to be found. The drag strip surface cleaner guys said they did not find any big ****tershield parts. There was a huge hole in the floorboard of the Willy’s blackened interior. What we found were bits and pieces of the original bellhousing and other unknown chunks of metal wedged into the dash, the door panels, and other parts of the interior. The discovery was also in addition to the melted seat frame, the now, gone Moon Tank + Foot Pedal and cracked gl*** and frames. Did the ****tershield do its job? Well, my brother wore a Bell Helmet that protected his head on the jump and rolling in the gravel after the timing lights. So, if the ****tershield was not there, it probably would have been worse than it was that evening. But, a Joe Shubeck 360 degree ****tershield would have kept the integrity of the explosion within and not resulting fire and total damage to both car and driver. We were just a few years too early… driveline shield Our Willys Coupe B/Gas then C/Gas cl***: 1960
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