For what it's worth all I can find is one reference from Pintony that he changed the crossmember. Not one person can say if they pulled it off & how in any old posts.

Well I bought the '73 today. It has front drums & the crossmember is going to need swapped. Everything is different from what I can tell. It has a manual rack(1 year only deal) as well as a 1 year only steering shaft & rag joint.
 
Since I have so much work ahead to swap it I may look into an aftermarket crossmember thats set up for air bags & I may just replace the front frame rails with 2x3 box tubing that runs all the way to the back bumper since I'm tubbing it.
 
Time to start another project thread.....Ugg ghhh!!!

The only reason I know about the 1 year only parts is Ebay listings. I have seen several used racks listed as '73 only & Flaming River lists this '71-'72 only rack
 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FLAMING-RIVER-1971-72-PINTO-MANUAL-STEERING-RACK-FR1501-/230674172163?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3APinto&hash=item35b5408903
 
Cardone offers a rebuilt which only fits 1973
 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cardone-Industries-23-1710-/120779896881?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3APinto%7CYear%3A1973&hash=item1c1f0af831
 
And of course the modern rack is always listed as '74-up leaving the '73 as a 1 year only piece.
 
I only went into this much detail in an effort to inform anyone with a '73 to beware of this issue. I didn't know it for sure till I bought my '73 & looked at it & it's definitely different from a '72.
 
I assume the shaft & rag are 1 year parts since the '73 splined shaft on the rack appears to be shorter than the '72. I've never measured one so I may be wrong here. The rack IS different however.

Yup, pretty much the 71-73 suspension is totally different than the 74 and up.  Not much will interchange.  Pretty much the only difference between the 71-73 suspension is the steering rack for the 73.  As mentioned above, it is a one year only rack.  The 73 rack is bigger and bulkyier than the 71-72 ones.  I'm not sure why they changed them?  My 73 hatch has a 72 rack in it now for clearance for the 2.3T.  As I understand it from my friend who did the conversion, he cut and rewelded in the 72 mounting brackets to the 73 and along with the rag joint, bolted it right in.

Yup, pretty much the 71-73 suspension is totally different than the 74 and up.  Not much will interchange.  Pretty much the only difference between the 71-73 suspension is the steering rack for the 73.  As mentioned above, it is a one year only rack.  The 73 rack is bigger and bulkyier than the 71-72 ones.  I'm not sure why they changed them?  My 73 hatch has a 72 rack in it now for clearance for the 2.3T.  As I understand it from my friend who did the conversion, he cut and rewelded in the 72 mounting brackets to the 73 and along with the rag joint, bolted it right in.

I forgot to mention that the tie rod ends are of a different diameter and my friend swapped the spindles as well.

i won't say for sure about the spindles because i put '74 and up on my '73 the only thing i had to do to them was have the tie rod end holes reemed out just alittle to fit the '73 tie rods ends.
oh! also the splindles i used were the 2" drop spindles