Mangusta Top Rear Link Double HEIM solution?

That "bridge" mount for the ZF was an extension of the theme that DeTomaso tried for when adapting the P-5000 sports-racer chassis to the Mangusta body. The Mangusta was envisioned as a 'Gentleman's Express,' not a raw racing car, hence a quieter shock-mounting of the transaxle instead of a better rigid mount, sound-proofing everywhere- even inside the doors, an absorbent  drip tray below the master cylinders to protect the driver's pants from random fluid drips and even a factory-supplied 'wiping cloth' in the tool kit! The car was supposed to be elegant, not a noisy, rough-edged racer.

Larry and Jack, there are a couple things about these drawings that interest me...

   -Jack,  interesting that only the very first few Mangustas seemed to have silentblocks on the front suspension...and afterwards, at least on the suspension just a thin skin of polyurethane bushing  (when silentblock isolation was standard on the Maserati GTs..). But overall, hard to get less cushy than a Mangusta, I'd think...

- Larry, yeah, the pictures here in the parts book seemed to be by a cartoonist (here is an isometric picture of a nut...). The 'Silvestro leaks' show that DeT made or kept their own drawings even for parts they may have completely leveraged (eg DeCarbon shock here...even if it does show the shock is red, which nobody has seen!), even if they didn't get someone who would write text very clearly...

But Larry and Jack, where did -these- body pictures come from? I think I pulled them off the Mangusta International site 2 decades ago, and given their thumbnail sizes there were probably posted with a dialup modem.... But any idea what document these came from? Lee

Those hand-drawn images came from what passes for a Shop Manual or Parts Listing for Mangustas. I've seen two versions- one has more pages than the other. Vallelungas are almost the same. As far as background, DeTomaso only introduced U.S- type shop manuals and Parts Lists with actual photos when Ford got involved in the company in 1971, unfortunately too late for the Goose..

Since this seems to be the catch-all Mangusta thread…. Here’s a Texas Mangusta in Los Olivos, CA….  “Cars & Cowboys”.

Rocky

Sooo...   Does the outer sleeve come out with the frame rail bushing?  It does NOT want to come out...

MH

Sleeve stays put.

@scifi posted:

Sleeve stays put.

Well, that explains why they won't come out! 

I don't see any way that it's welded in place, mist be heat fitted or used some sort of adhesive...

Thanks,

MH

Scifi, do you remember what the replacement bushing is?

@leea posted:

Scifi, do you remember what the replacement bushing is?

No... I bought a 'make your own bushing' kit.  Then, as I was not even working on that project, came upon some leftover shock bushings from the front of the car which fit perfectly! Likely this a bog standard shock bushing you could find at any auto parts store. Note that the re-install is more challenging than disassembly. You might need a floor jack, a friend and some WD40 because once you have fresh rubber in there, it takes some wrangling to get all the bolts re-installed.

@mkeh posted:

Well, that explains why they won't come out!

I don't see any way that it's welded in place, mist be heat fitted or used some sort of adhesive...

Thanks,

MH

I tried to remove them too! No amount of beating seemed to help so I simply convinced myself they are meant to stay. No trouble since then. Things feel much more solid. Old bushings had turned to dust.

I measured the ID of the outer sleeve, exactly 1". The depth is 1.3" and the inner sleeve for the bolt ID is 10mm..  There is also a small ridge in the middle of the outer sleeve to keep it in place.

When I find a fit I will post here.

MH

i can't find the reference,  but I seem to remember someone using Jeep bushings.

I ordered some online that MIGHT work...  Not exactly what I was looking for, but close...  We'll see...  If you run across the "correct" one let's make note of it...

MH

@leea posted:

But Larry and Jack, where did -these- body pictures come from? I think I pulled them off the Mangusta International site 2 decades ago, and given their thumbnail sizes there were probably posted with a dialup modem.... But any idea what document these came from? Lee

My understanding of the parts (exploded view) documents, there are two parts manuals. One manual produced by Ghia for the coach parts. The second manual was produced by De Tomaso for the chassis parts.

We have reproduced what I believe is an early version of Ghia's coach parts manual. The thumbnails above have pictures among them which are not in our manual, I believe it must be a later example. For instance, our manual had the fiberglass bucket style seats, the thumbnails above have a picture of the metal frame seats.

-G

George, thanks---I have a copy of the reproduction, it’s a beautiful reconstruction and an incredible amount of work…But I think must be a third document that (except for thumbnails) appears to be lost to history, Esp;

* The pictures in the thumbnails are high quality, not close to the simple pictures in the Detomaso parts guide.
* The thumbnails are way too sparse to have been a parts book—for example, the “Door Assembly” or T-wing Rib” could hardly be assumed to be used as a spares guide. And of course, no number designators anywhere…or what appears to be rear bumpers grouped in the “front grille” portion.
* The date had to precede the DeT parts book---or at least, the rather complete drawing of the 2 piece seats vs. single piece buckets.

I’m just guessing these were design elements provided to Ghia, and assume that DeT or Ghia had another cycle where they converted these to engineering documents. But as the song of that time goes, ‘the answer my friend…...” 😊 Lee