[DeTomaso] Mangusta Rumors.....

[steven.liebenow at att.net]

Mike wrote earlier:
 
>>>The early Euro Mangustas used a Shelby-spec 289, but most Mangustas were 
equipped with a very weedy 230-horsepower 302.

What he meant to say, was that at least one early Mangusta #508 (was local to club here, may still be!) is indeed equipped with a HIPO 289.  I wouldn't go so far as to call it Shelby spec'd....  There were HiPo 289 Mustangs in production.....so did Shelby put the package together, or did Ford....and one borrowed from the other????

REGARDLESS, apparently a couple of Mangustas were undoubtedly build with the higher winding 289.  What is completely unknown, is just how many were built with it.........

My thoughts are that Alejandro, being the tight screw that he was, put the 302 in, because it was cheap. Cheaper than the 289, and available, because 289 production was waning for the new 302 design.  Regular 289's eventually ceased being installed in production cars in 1969.  

HiPo's carried special cylinder heads with built in valve spring pockets, adjustable rocker arms, dual point distributor, beefier main bearing caps, and a slightly larger Autolite carb, plus some specially treated rods/bolts, and a crank that was selected from production units to have a minimum Brinell(sp?) rating for strength.  (True hipo cranks will have a dimple on one of the main throws indicating that it had been tested....)   Oh, and of course, it had the monster front harmonic balancer!  Can't recall if it was a solid lifter cam or not..... All this special stuff adds up to $$$.

Anyway, the 302 never wound as tight as the 289, and the "story" goes that buyers were upset because their car didn't wind to 6K+ rpms.  The rumor mill would have DeT installing new cranks, cam, and valve springs  (destroke the 302 to a 289?) in order to appease the high winding buyers that complained.

In reality, my guess is that they got new valve springs and a taller cam....and were sent down the road "thinking" they had a formula 1 motor in the car now.....able to take on Ferraris and stomp them into the dirt....... or something like that.  They would have still been somewhat rpm limited by the stock cast iron intake of the days and the small (exhaust) port headers. Probably around 6K....before HP dropped off.

I have always tried to find early Goose owners that could confirm or deny the existence of 289's in their cars, but have come up with a giant Goose egg (HAH!) for now, other than the one car that I have seen in person and verified.

If any of you Goose owners HAVE a HP289 car, please pipe up!

Ciao!
Steve