[Rory McNeil]

On my 302 Ford Stocker, I have used both the Lakewood and McLeod scattershields, and personally, I like the fit of the McLeod better, unlike the Lakewood, there was no header interferance, and it also was a bit more compact and lighter. On my 428FE Ford, I am pretty much stuck with the Lakewood unit, as McLeod doesn`t offer a SFI scattershield for the FE, and something custom made like a Browell is not in the budget. The last 2 FE Lakewood scattershields I have bought are physical larger & heavier than previous Lakewoods I`ve owned, and also have an extra reinforcment panel for the upper mounting bolts, plus larger lower containment bolts (maybe more stringent SFI tests?)
I have looked into the Quicktimes scattershields, which appear much more compact and lighter, and although Quicktimes claims that their bellhousings "meet all SFI standards", many of their units are NOT SFI approved with the silver date punched SFI sticker that is required by NHRA. Although Quicktimes does make scattershields to fit the FE Ford, none of the them are truely SFI certified. From some of the photos I have seen of their FE scattershields, with open starter pockets, very few containment bolts, and in some cases, the bottom of the housing missing, I really can`t see how one would pass the same tests that the McLeod and Lakewoods would. Quicktimes may very well make a legal SFI 6-1 housing for a Chevy, but I would be certain before ordering that this was the case. As for dialing in a scattersheild, I would always check for proper fit, regardless of a manufacturers claims. Over the years I`ve owned quite a few scatteshields, NONE were "dead on" out of the box, although a couple of the Lakewoods wer close enough, the others all required the offset dowel pins. Between factory tolerances of the bellhousing manufacturers, the engine blocks factory dimensions, plus align boring or some other machining processes, I think that it `s very unlikely that any manufacterer can build a housing that is dead nuts with every engine.
When it comes to pilot bushings vs roller bearings, at least when it pertains to the sintered iron clutch discs, I have found that the factory type bronze pilot bushings tend to get "chewed up" by the abrasive clutch dust from the iron discs. The center hole on mine always got enlarged and egg shaped, issues I`ve never had with the sealed roller bearings.