71-73 Non A/C Power Steering Setup

[rfiset]

Hi everyone. Such a great forum for all of us 7173 fans! Will soon be reinstalling my '73 verts #351c 4V motor that I have just had rebuilt. Took several months to finish as many Howards Roller Cams were back ordered until September. While waiting for the engine I had time to consider whether to keep the A/C or leave it off the car. I have decided to leave it off mostly because I think the engine compartment looks much cleaner without it and secondly I never use it. So by deleting the A/C I will have to go over to the non-A/C setup which requires three different parts as follows: (please correct me if I am wrong)

1) A 1/2 inch spacer between the P.S pump bracket and the engine filling the void left by the deleted A/C support bracket (This is readily available)
2) A NON A/C specific P.S. bracket that has two holes on the top to hold the NON A/C P.S. cooler via a tang and self tapping bolt. (these seem very hard to find)
3) The very elusive above mentioned NON A/C P.S. Cooler that is totally different than the with A/C version. (these seem impossible to find)

The NON A/C P.S. cooler is the most important part as one can drill the neccesary holes in an A/C equiped P.S. bracket to turn it into the NON A/C version and there are plenty of spacers available.
Does anyone out there have or know where I could find the difficult parts in good working order? I can get the spacer no problem. It is the other two that are tough. Called West Coast Classic Cougar to no avail.
Or maybe someone has tried another way to set up a P.S. cooler from another Ford vehicle??? Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[giantpune]

I didn't put the AC compressor back on my car when I redid the motor.

The Power steering cooler seems like it was hit or miss of ford installed it. Lots of cars don't have them, and it doesn't seem to affect them. So on my recent project, I just loosened a couple hose clamps and deleted the PS cooler and the short hose.

I put a stack of washers to act as a spacer between the PS bracket and the engine.

And I didn't bother to swap any of the pulleys. I currently have an unused V grove on the crank pulley that doesnt hurt anything.

 

[rfiset]

Thanks Giantpune for your response. I see a lot of 71-73 mustangs without the cooler. I read somewhere that Ford installed the cooler if the car had the competition suspension package which included a larger and different power steering unit. Has anyone heard of this? Also anybody else seen any problems with leaving off the PS cooler? I only plan to do some longer road trips at highway speeds. No racing/track driving. Thanks everyone.

 

[giantpune]

I have a 73 mach1 that did not come with the PS cooler. And I have a 73 fastback that did come with the cooler. Both cars have the same H code engine, factory AC, and 2.75:1 open diff.
Neither car shows any extra suspension was selected on the marti report.

I have not noticed any issues from either of them not having the cooler.

 

[Hemikiller]

I have a 73 mach1 that did not come with the PS cooler. And I have a 73 fastback that did come with the cooler. Both cars have the same H code engine, factory AC, and 2.75:1 open diff.
Neither car shows any extra suspension was selected on the marti report.

I have not noticed any issues from either of them not having the cooler.

Does the 73 fastback have the Extra Cooling option?

 

[Stanglover]

If you're just street driving on a nice sunny day, I wouldn't bother. I don't have a cooler on my 71, just the extra long HP hose that was thought to help cool the fluid, no idea if it actually does and I don't worry about it. If your car is not concours or did not have one before, don't worry about it
If you want to check this out, there is an online sight called Kijiji in Canada. Put 71 Mustangs in the search box, top left where it says "what are you looking for", and it ought to bring up a listing of all Mustang stuff for sale. There is a guy selling at least one cooler for 450 bucks Cdn. However I'm not sure if this is the correct one for a non AC set-up.
www.kijiji.ca

 

[giantpune]

Does the 73 fastback have the Extra Cooling option?

Not that I can tell.

 

[rfiset]

Thanks Stanglover for the info. It seems like these are very hard to find and expensive. Will just go without it for now until one turns up. Was considering a cooler from another Ford car or truck to use also. These are less $$$ but will require some creative attachment/placement. Has anyone out there used another Ford PS cooler with success?

 

[Hemikiller]

Not that I can tell.

I missed the part where you said it was a factory AC car. My theory is the PS cooler was part of the Extra Cooling package. The Extra Cooling package was included with AC, and to my knowledge, all AC cars received the cooler.

 

[giantpune]

I missed the part where you said it was a factory AC car. My theory is the PS cooler was part of the Extra Cooling package. The Extra Cooling package was included with AC, and to my knowledge, all AC cars received the cooler.

My 73 mach1 was factory AC car and didn't have the cooler. I guess its possible that somebody else deleted it before I got it.

 

[1973 Mach-1]

Thank you STANGLOVER and GIANTPRUNE.
I have a factory AC, 73 Mach 1, and the Radiator is aftermarket. The power steering cooler runs through the Trans cooler ducting in the radiator. There is a secondary cooler for the Transmission.
I am planning to remove the power steering cooler entirely, and reroute the transmission cooler back to where it belongs.
Inasmuch as the AC unit was removed some time ago, (like Giantprune's) I feel this will be safe for the power steering.

Anyone have any cautions or ideas to the otherwise?