[mr0077]

Dennis, I have had no problems with my Lakewood (other than originally aligning the &%^$#@ bellhousing!), but it's only been 3 months, too. The cast/machined factory housing should solve your problem, and for street use, the blanket seems like a suitable and very good alternative to the scattershield. I've heard good things about them over the years...anyone else heard (or experienced) good or bad?
For what it's worth, I borrowed an articulated magnetic stand, mounted it to my flywheel, and set the indicator to read against the transmission input hole, rolled the motor over, tapped on the housing, rolled it some more (and tapped, and rolled, and tapped, and...well you get it). Royal pain, but finally got it to about 0.002" total runout. You're welcome to use my setup if you want.