[vettestr]

I had a car brought to me without the steel block plate. This moved the scatter shield toward the front of the block. Another clue was of course the open bolt holes that the plate allow fastening or fixture too. Did you have about 8 holes in the S-shield without bolts? Did you dial indicate the input shaft to the center opening to locate or check the tranny was centered in the opening ?
If scatter shield was not centered or matched to crank centerline the S - shield could be shifted one way or the other making it closer to the flywheel on one side of the 360 degree possible.