Technical are scatter shields necessary?

glad to hear! sorry for the damage. thanks for the update and the tip about not drilling into the housing.
I started the thread, so damage and/or any injuries might be avoided or minimized in the future, not to spread rumors or face book drama.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/willys-owners.999990/page-9#post-11609788

No rumors or made up comments, "just the facts, ma'am."

Hello,

That is some scary photo. (some work, circumstances prevent it other times…)

In August 1960, upon seeing our C/Gas Willys coupe the next day after the clutch explosion, fire and crash into the Lions Dragstrip fence, we were amazed. It did not have a huge plate sticking up like the photos, but there were a million metal pieces wedged into the steel dash, door and window frames and lower kickplate areas.

Luckily, my brother did not get any metal fragments on or in him. A helmet, long sleeve shirt and his lucky, favorite, nylon Wynn’s Friction Proofing jacket helped. But, those items did not prevent the 3rd degree burns, despite the fire extinguisher.

We had the required two piece metal scatter shield that all of the top racers were using at the time. The explosion was so horrific and powerful that the scatter shield, the clutch and bellhousing were in pieces and nowhere to be found in the burned out interior. Just a giant hole in the floorboard where there used to be a nice, curved, metal replacement floor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zYm8Mqfvfo

Jnaki

Yes, a 360 degree one piece probably would have helped. (not made at the time, but several months later by Lakewood) But, the brute force in those explosions is unparalleled in power. The burns were terrible with 30% in 3rd degree. The Moon Tank in the cab was the culprit for the fire. (the law was passed to move all tanks to the outside within two weeks…)

Sorry, if we started the outside Moon Tank, awful fad…Most of the top racers put them just behind the grille, where they should have been in the first place.
Thanks, @elgringo71
BUILT IN 1961-64, PUBLISHED IN 1966

(In 1961, he had the Moon Tank inside of the cab, but being with us (pit crew) on August 1960, Atts Ono immediately moved the tank to the front, behind the grille)
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/gassers-good-or-bad.1063887/page-4#post-12864215

 

Only if you value your life and or the passengers in your car...

 

If you could see my friends legs you would say yes.

 

Years ago, I installed a Lakewood in my Z/28 due to the high winding nature of the little 302... I felt a little more secure after that....

 

@Dog_Patch I'm glad you're unhurt. As a kid I remember seeing the photos of Don Garlits' car when it's clutch blew. I was also at the HAMB drags a few years back when one of the racer's flywheel took out the mirror of a truck parked in the pits.
Good luck and safe travels in the future.
-Dave

 

I run cast iron truck bells in my cars, have been doing that for years, on the street and on with stock cars. Not a tremendous amount of protection and I stopped pulling hole shots decades ago.

But that sudden release of the clutch pedal at 7 or 8-grand is another story. I would think that QT would want a closer look at the blown up one and pony up a fast replacement on the house.

 

Wow.
Seeing this kind of stuff helps me to be plenty satisfied not being a drag-racer. And having engines for my cars that will likely never exceed 5000rpm.

 

Yep! Now days I keep my revs below 4500 rpm...
Even though the tach don't start redline till 7400...

 

Are scatter shields necessary? Two pre-scatter shield days pictures are worth two thousand words !!

 

You know how they make a particular component the weak link so that the rest of the components don't break?
Just wondering if it might work to make the right side of the bellhousing/scattershield a little bit less strong than the left side... so that if it does explode, the flywheel would tend to go to the right side of the car... away from the driver.

Sent from my VS835 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Looks like the trans input shaft broke by the center of the disc. All of our sticks have SFI housings but do not see launches. We also use solid centers. I glad he wasn't hurt.

 

The direction of the rotation of the flywheel would tend to send it to the passenger side anyway... if anything. There's such great force though... It might not make any difference.

Sent from my VS835 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I may be assuming wrongly that the flywheel would even stay in one piece. Tell me... does the flywheel actually explode... breaking into multiple pieces?

Sent from my VS835 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Or, how about a dual disc clutch setup like on my car????......

 

Unless of course you're in the UK or down under!

 

If the fly wheel is cast it will break into pieces large and small. If it's a steel fly wheel it won't. Just the other week I upgraded my 66 chevelle with a scatter shield and steel flywheel. It's good insurance.

 

what are the best scattershileds out there?

 

Agreed on them needing to do a postmortem on the blown part to look for failure points and opportunities for improvement.
Looks like Holley now owns Quick Time. They also own Lakewood.
I run a Lakewood bellhousing in my street car. Good piece of mind.

 

I would not want to beat on a stick shift car without one.
My Austin has scars from some sort of clutch catastrophe, makes me wonder if that's the reason it went into hibernation for so many years. Nowhere near as bad a QnD though. (I closed up a lot of the damage)

 

Does anyone know the test procedure used for testing the containment capabilites of scattershields? I used to work in a grinding wheel factory, where we speed tested each wheel to 1/3 over it's rated speed. It was quite an experience when a 42 inch wheel (rated @900rpm, tested to 1200) would let loose. I had a neighbor who got hit in the head with debris from a clutch explosion at Indy in 1969. He was blinded for life at 16, had gone to Indy for his birthday, and due to the accident he never got to drive his brand new Boss 302. His dad drove him around in it though, for years afterward.

 

An 1/8" thick scattershield is pretty thin considering what is expected of it, that should be the 1st warning. The Lakewood I ran was 1/4" thick, or 2x the protection.
Years ago I put a Lakewood scattershield on my street driven Road Runner, the guy at the local speed shop wouldn't order one for me because he thought it was a waste of money on a street car. History proved it wasn't necessary, but it wasn't the speed shop owner's feet next to my bell, it was mine. I ordered the Lakewood from someone else. A few weeks before I had went in to order the scattershield, I spent some time one night digging chunks of a flywheel out of the street, the results of a very fortunate Nova driver's holeshot.

The rotation of the flywheel is clockwise. If the flywheel (or clutch) come through the bell at the bottom or on the left side of the rotation, everything would be coming towards the drivers feet and the dash. He was lucky the scattershield failed where it did. Gene

 

I too run cast iron bellhousings. Right now I am using a '60-63 GM truck bellhousing (hydraulic clutch) in my '62 Chevy II. It has scars inside from a 6500+ RPM clutch explosion but I still have all my pieces and parts. I do think a can is in order though. ( gonna have to switch to a hydraulic bearing too )

 

Manually shifted Turbo 400 all the way.....

 

Don't think a automatic can't explode with the same results. A blanket or shield is needed on those. I have blown a few. Parts come through the floor and dash the same.

 

Goals- saw this at the top fuel pits yesterday

 

I say go old school!
This is an Ansen I found at a yard sale a few years ago.
The guy was using it to hold a tarp down and seem shocked I or anyone would it! "Are you sure you wouldn't rather buy some used baby clothes or junk lawn equipment?"

Note the bottom piece that is always lost came with it
Sold

 

That’s why I had to make a drawing - looking from the front it’s clockwise. From the back it’s counter clockwise. The steel hat beat the dowel pin out of the block and the bell bolts weren’t meant to support the side load and they all sheared. Engine tilted forward broke the front motor mount, trans popped out of the pilot bearing and away squirted the disc

 

That solid disk has to act like a giant throwing star when the clutch blows. I'm just wondering if that may be too much spinning force for the way most scatter shields are made that have contained clutch explosions of less stout disk assemblies. That what looks like 1/4 plate hub is going to go somewhere no matter what you have around it.