Quick wire tuck question

[aleks77]

im doing my wire tuck while the engine is out of the car, im painting the engine bay since im doing a color change and also gonna shave all the holes. Im not gonna go crazy on the firewall just gonna focus on the passanger and driver side. I ran into a bit of a problem on the driver side, the power steering lines, im not sure what i can do about these? and also what the hell is that thing that looks like a mini radiator that the lines run to? I posted 2 pics below of what im talking about.

Also why is the powering steering reservoir connected to the side of the fender using some crazy bracket with like cushions where the bolts are? Is it so the contents of the reservoir dont shake up during driving? Cuase i wanna relocate the reservoir down where the washer fluid is, and just get longer rubber hoses or something.

Also the vacuum hose (i think) that runs from the IM to the driver side and into the hole in the inner fender, what the hell is that for and how can i relocate this? Its the orange fitting in the 1st pic.
Any help is appreciated, thank you.

[riceraccord]

Ok the finned looking thing that the power steering lines run to are there to dissapate heat so you dont boil the fluid sort of like an in-line cooler. The cushions on the power steering resivoir are there to dampen the vibration. The vacuum hose that goes to the driver side then tees off, the one pointing to the front of the car goes to the cruise control and the one pointing towards the fender goes to the windshield washer sprayer. As far as re-locating the power steering resivoir that low you might run into problems you are usually supposed to keep it at about the same height as the pump.

[aleks77]

I removed cruise control, so can i just run like a longer vacuum line from the intake manifold by the firewall, and outside to the fender then to the washer fluid? wondering if i can even find a vacuum line that long. I guess the reservoir will have to stay there....but what can i do with those ugly lines, can i replace them with rubber ones and run them just under the driver side motor mount instead of around it like it is now.

[riceraccord]

You should be able to find vacuum hose in any length the local auto parts store usually has a big spool of it and will cut however long you want. Yes you can use different line for the power steering lines just make sure its rated for it.

[aleks77]

hmm rated for it as in pressure or temperature or corrosion resistance? I guess ill just ask for a powering steering soft line.

also in my 1st pic, the little black plug by the nut there by the vacuum line, at the very top of the pic, can i take these out and weld the holes up? I dont know why these plugs are there they are just black little rubber plugs

[riceraccord]

Yeah it needs to be rated for the high pressure that a power steering puts out and you should be able to weld those holes just make sure they are not giving you access to something like a hidden bolt or something.

[Boost_Lee]

i think fuel line should be good enough for the PS

[aleks77]

awesome, thanks for the suggestions.

So is there anything at all i can do with the power steering reservoir? I might get rid of my windshield washer, so can i put it closer to the headlight? however i wont be able to use that bracket with all the cushions on it....im wondering how critical it is that the cushions be there