I apologize for no response for a while. I have no time to visit the garage now. Japanese call December Shiwasu, which means December is so busy month that let teacher run. I’m working in high school as a teacher. That’s why I had no enough time to understand and arrange these useful information you gave me until now.
I talked with friend who owns mangusta about what he wants to do for mangusta. His answer is the first he want to know if this engine has replaced or not. The second is to return the proper engine that was installed in this mangusta.
Many folks gave me thankful info about difficulties to find the proper parts and keep good condition to run. I understand the difficulty to find out the parts that has the proper cast date, but he doesn’t care the date or the casting of other parts such as head, rod, water pump and so on. He wants to return to the original type of engine block. If the 289 had been installed, he would satisfy. If the 302 had been installed, he would want to return the block to the 302.
The discussion in this forum may conclude that this mangusta had been built with the 302 block and replaced by some one and some reasons. The reason why we can conclude is the following
-stamp on intake
-cast date difference between block and other parts
-the fact that no 289 block had been built after july 1968
The conclusion is almost clear, but let me say why I thought this mangusta was built with the 289 block. The reason why I thought is from the following wiki links, which says the European model was built with the 289 engine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Tomaso_Mangusta
Wiki sometimes includes incorrect information. Is this also inccorect information, isn’t it?
Anyway My friend must decide if he uses this 289 block or replace it to the 302. I will give hime advice to use this 289 block, because some mangusta had been built with 289 block. It is not a wrong combination. Does this make sense? If he decides to continue using this 289 block, he also wants to replace the cylinder head. What is the best choice for cylinder head? PANTERADOUG said the uses the AFR 1388 heads that give good flow in chamber. Does it need be shaved to have the same chamber volume? And I can find the so-called overhauled cylinder heads in low price in ebay. Is it a bad idea to use them.
This Thursday I’m going to visit the garage to confirm the engine cast number. I will confirm or look for the block and head cast date, the Det logo. Are there any parts I should confirm. We must step forward to let the mangusta run.