I've had a vintage Lakewood block plate and a couple modern versions and none were painted, simply raw iron.

OK, I was thinking that they were black.

Based on the shape and round flange, I believe that is a Ansen unit.

Jason

I just picked up a nos Lakewood bellhousing with block plate and the block plate was bare metal.

How about some pics? How old is the bellhousing?

Yes, the scattershield in question is manufactured by Ansen. Here is a picture of the scattershield in a 1970 Ansen Hi-Performance Catalog and this style of unit maybe in the older catalogs as well.

So it is pretty certain that the shield in wheelhops photos is an Ansen?

Mine looks very close except it has a notch in the edge that is die-stamped at about the 10 o'clock position and mine is from the late 60's so no "Hecho". Any idea what the notch was for?

Mine does clear a 168 tooth flywheel.

Other than that it looks about identical. It has the two flat areas with the two holes near the trans mounting area. I was told they are for an early style frame mount system?

The 10 o'clock notch sounds like it may have been to clear a bolt on bracket that supported the inner end of a clutch cross shaft. Bolt on brackets were used in about the same time frame as the bolt on motor mounts that the holes in the lower bellhousing area you mentioned earlier were used. Is there a spot adjacent to that 10 o'clock notch that looks flat where a bracket might have been positioned?

Wow, that's cool. Thanks for the I.D. help and the catalog and pictures!

Does anyone know how thick the block plate is , I was thinking it is supposed to be an 1/8” thick ?
Thanks