Cable or rod? Ford had rods that connected from the throttle lever to the linkage at the tranny. Lokar makes a cable kit that has the proper bracketry to make it work.
Paul: Is a "spring" required on the kick down lever? I have seen some cars with a helper "spring" and some without.
The "bracketry" is extra...but not too much, I think like $20 or under. Unless you have a show quality car I wouldn't spend the cash on the polished stuff, it doesn't look much different.
Ford puts a small spring to offset the weight of the rod. With the cable I think they use a spring to assist because of the cable drag. The way to adjust it is with the throttle wide open and the kick-down lever completely depressed there is .060 clearance between the linkage and the adjusting screw. I think as long as you have some clearance and it isn't binding you're OK.
I have been installing this kick down cable today and it is a pain... The cable is lined up with my B&M shift cable with every thing mocked up...I guess it's time to hold my toung right and start tweek bending the levers. The indtructions say to cut the braided shield and the cable, I chose not to. Any pointers before I procede?
What about trying to build a bracket that you can set the kickdown rod at a locked position? Like putting a turnbuckle off the kickdown linkage, and test drive for shift feel. I had a AOD one time, in a 88 t-bird, unhooked the cable, and I adjusted the cable, tied it back with a bread sack tie, after a few test drives, I got it to shift 1-2-3-OD like clockwork, and shifted like it had a shift kit in it. Can this be done to the C4? or the same principle work? I have EFI, and its kinda difficult to rig something up, and if it can work like it did on the AOD,, Thats the way I like it! LOL! Theoreticly speaking, can it be done? ChadS
The AOD uses a throttle pressure rod, which is similar but different in function. If you "set" the kick-down rod at a certain place it will shift down roghly under light throttle while slowing down and that would be unpleasant at the very least. It must be timed to the throttle. There are kits available to hook it up to EFI, many different carbs and some of the earlier "Hilborn type" mechanical injection systems. You could fabricate a "secondary" linkage from the firewall to the lever on the transmission if you wanted to take the time. The lever at the throttle just have to travel the same distance in a line with the lever from contact with the valve to full throttle. Then you set it with about .060" free play at wide open throttle. The kits are easy to install and not that expensive.
