It has been my experience that it is dam near imposible for a fly wheel to hit the scatter sheild. That is if it is not comming through the foot box at 8000 rpms. I was hoping your collective experience would support my own experience, which it has. There was no horrible noise upon starting the car, which I would have expected. The bolts were all there and tight. The indicator pins were in line. The flywheel was on the right way. The only thing I have never heard before is that the crank could have been off center. The engine was leaking
oil, not much, from the rear main bearing which I hoped would seat itself and stop leaking. I am interested to know more about the flywheel being off center. I am also interested to know what the difference is with a lakewood bellhousing. Overall, I am prying this doesn't happen again, and that it was just the starter ripping teeth off the flywheel.