Power steering hose routing in engine bay

I have noticed that some cars have the power steering hose running below the driver side shock tower brace and others have the hose running through a hose retainer on top of the shock tower brace. What is the reason for the difference? Engine type , AC , production year ?

As far as I can tell, the longer hose going over the brace was for the performance package cars, they usually had the finned cooler near the power steering pump. I think its just a way to keep the fluid cooler by increasing volume of the system. My car being a 2bbl car did not have the long hose, but when I went to the 4bbl engine I bought all the pieces to run the longer hose to make it more correct for a performance package car. I have not found a non-A/C power steering cooler yet, but plan to run one someday.

Interesting.. I have a 2bbl car (well, used to be, there still is nothing "performance" about it) and I still have the (detached) PS cooler (which is NOT for sale, before anybody gets any ideas ;-) ).

And after checking, I do have the holes in the brace for the retainer, too!

i have one on my in line 6   i under stand that it was for use as a surge eliminator . to take away the jumping you feel  when the steering wheel was turned at low speed  and it  is not on a lot of cars mine is a 71 . i tried to find that hose  and it is not out out there as a repop

Cars with the extra cooling package (or A/C, etc) were the ones that received the P/S pump mounted finned cooler. I've only had one car with the extra long loop and promptly got rid of it for a regular length hose.

I have two 73 verts. Both are stock and neither of them came with any performance package. One is a Non-A/C 302 and the other a A/C H-code car. The 302 car is an early build car and the H-code a very late build car. Both have the P/S cooler. Neither car came with the hose extension over the cowl brace. In all the examples I have seen, I have not seen an A/C car have both the P/S cooler AND the hose extension over the cowl brace, it has always been one or the other. Beyond that, I have never been able to clearly understand why one method was installed over the other. I did find an interesting article years ago in Mustang Monthly that had the most complete overview of the various P/S systems used by Ford (see the last diagram). The article speaks to a change made mid-year in 72 to shorter lines, which may be the answer. The pictures of the 71, 72 and 73 cars below kind of support that idea. The longer cowl lines on 71 and 72 cars may have been used to route the lines away from the exhaust manifold heat and give the coolant longer time to cool down. Then in mid 72 they switched to the cooler unit instead. The surge suppression sounds reasonable too. I am hoping that someone can provide the answer.

My 73 H-code with A/C



My 73 Non-A/C 302



A low mieage 73 H-code



A 72 Mach I



A 71 Mach I

The first picture is my original 73 Mach 1 Q with air, 4 speed. Has cooler no long hose.

The second picture is my 73 vert H code with air, automatic. Has cooler no long hose.

The third is 73 vert H code no air, automatic, does not have cooler or long hose.

The last picture is the crashed 72 H code 3 speed manual, I parted out and it has long hose and was just stuck under the brace. Owner probably did not put the bracket back on when he had brace off.

I am sure there was a reason for how they did it. They do not add cost for no reason.

As far as I know..... and that's not much!, it was only 71's that had the longer hose looping over the brace and it should have the foam rubber shield on it where it contacts the brace so it doesn't ware through.

Here is a picture of a friends owned-from-new 71, so for sure the hose is as original as the rest of the car.

Geoff.

Took a quick look in the MPC, appears the long hose loop was a date specific item, ending on 5/1/72. Parts lookups on RockAuto verify this.

I went back and looked and the crashed 72 I have that was a one owner car did have the bracket on the hose it had just been put under the shock tower brace. Will have to look at the build date on it.

Here is pic of 72 built Jan. 72 according to door sticker.

Have not took the steering box off yet one bolt frozen 1/2 impact will not even loosen. Soaking it.

My 71 Grande and my 71 Mach 1 both h codes had the long power steering hoses that ran over the top of the shock tower brace.

HemiKiller and Rackerm are correct that this was a 72 changeover. I have heard many opinions regarding the longer hose vs. the shorter hose. Both the risk of exhaust contact burning through the hose and fire potential to the surge issue. I do not know a definitive correct answer. My January of 72 production date like David's included the longer hose.

I was not aware that the long hose went into mid 72, so I learned something new. My understanding was that the intent was for better oil cooling. The Boss 351 had the cooler, but not others except maybe the 429's, but did the Boss have the long hose as well?

If 1972 was the changeover year, then the 73 models were no longer affected by the longer hoses? I'm currently working on the engine compartment and making sure that I restore everything to factory condition.

torbsim said:

If 1972 was the changeover year, then the 73 models were no longer affected by the longer hoses? I'm currently working on the engine compartment and making sure that I restore everything to factory condition.

Click to expand...

Correct, '73 did not use the longer loop, only the short hose.

Thank you so much!

Like bkdunha, my 12/71 built 72 Mach1 has the long hose with bracket mounted above the brace. I’ve never heard of a logical reason why the longer hose was used as mine came with the P/S cooler from the factory so I’m not sure why the long hose was deleted in 5/72 in favor of the shorter hose. There seems to be no difference in the steering boxes nor the P/S pumps to account for a shorter hose design. Perhaps the longer hose fit earlier Ford models at the time and inventory finally ran out? Always wondered about the ‘why’…

Retired2014 said:

Like bkdunha, my 12/71 built 72 Mach1 has the long hose with bracket mounted above the brace. I’ve never heard of a logical reason why the longer hose was used as mine came with the P/S cooler from the factory so I’m not sure why the long hose was deleted in 5/72 in favor of the shorter hose. There seems to be no difference in the steering boxes nor the P/S pumps to account for a shorter hose design. Perhaps the longer hose fit earlier Ford models at the time and inventory finally ran out? Always wondered about the ‘why’…

Click to expand...

Cheaper!