[Rory428]

Although Lakewood sells a kit that allows you to drill the dowel holes oversize, then dial in the housing, & finish it off by welding the thick "buttons" in place, there is a problem with this method. Since I race 2 4 speed cars in NHRA, my scattershields are required to have current SFI certifaction. This is the chrome label on the scattershield, with the date of manufacture punched out, similar to when you buy a new battery. The NHRA rules require the scattershield to be no more than 5 years old, based on this date label. For example, if you buy a new scattershield now, but the date is already 2 years old, out of the box, (a fairly common occurance), you can only use it for 3 years. If this same brand new scattershield sits in the box for 5 years while you are building your car (again, fairly common), you "new" scattershield is now not legal. Now, you can send the scattershield back to the manufacturer for re- certifaction, however, ANY modifacation can deem your scattershield unfit for re-certifacation! If you drill an extra hole in it, weld a tab to it, trim a small bit of the flange to clear headers etc, they will not re-certify it! I asked a Lakewood rep at a race last year if Lakewoods OWN weld on dowel aligning kit would also fall into this no modifactaion clause, and was told, yes, it would. For a street only car, or one than won`t run quicker than 11.50 at the strip, this may not be a big deal, but I like being able to have my scattershield re-certified, rather than buying a new one every few years, as every sacttershield I`ve looked at seems to be at least 8 months "gone", right in the box.