since finishing my super siz swap my automatic transmission is not shifting correctly. if i floor it, the transmission shifts fine though all the gears. when i take off just at a normal pace the tranny shift quickly into 2nd at about 10 mph and then starts to shift into third at about 20 mph. it doesnt slip going into 2nd but slips considerably going into 3rd. when i adjust the kickdown i cant seem to get it to go all the way back at wide open throttle. ive adjust all the way up and down the rod but it still wont reach all the way back. if i had the adjuster all the way to the end of the rod this would give it the greatest length and the best chance to push the rod all the way back right? thats what i thought and it still isnt going all the way back at wide open throttle. right now i have it adjusted at about the middle of the adjustment area. it seems to be shifting the same wherever the adjuster is. ive checked my fluid and its at the correct level. also, it always goes all the way forward to the stop in the tranny wherever i adjust it, just not all the way back. are there different length super six kickdowns? the pin type thing that holds the throttle cable, springs, kickdown; where should it be located in the slot of the kickdown? all the way at the back of the slot? all the way to the front of the slot? or somewhere in the middle? ive looked at pics and tried everything i can think of but cant seem to get my tranny shifting back to normal again. it had started to slip just a little going into 3rd before the super six swap but only on very rare occasions. also, when i shift the tranny myself and move the gear selector through the gears it shifts fine and very firm.i hope someone can understand what im trying to say and offer me some advice because im starting to get desparate.

(1) Did you put a spring on the kickdown to hold it snug to the "pin"? In not, you NEED to do this to properly adjust the transmission.

(2) Did you follow the procedure to adjust the kickdown in the Super Six article?

Reed

yes i put the spring on and yes i followed the procedure in the super six article. thats great for telling you what the lever needs to be doing on the trans in relation to the throttle but not much help if its not working for you. the lever moves all the way fprward to the stop at ide but wont go all the way back to the stop at WOT. is there an approximate location the adjuster should be from the end of the rod that i might try? ive put the adjuster at every position up and down the rod but it still wont go all the way back to the stop. ive read every article and post on this subject on the website and still cant figure it out. i understand how it goes together and how its SUPPOSED to work but mines not. reed, you keep putting pin in " ", is there a better term for this that i should be using? thanks for any help.

is your kickdown rod the original one, or the super six one? They are not the same and are not interchangeable.

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

why does everyone keep saying you cannot use the stock kickdown rod?
I have been using my stocker for a year and a half now. It is so much more conveniant to make adjustments up at the carb than down under the car. here Is a pic of how my kickdown is setup, it works great.

just try to make sure that the kickdown can swing freely, and at WOT it should be all the way back.

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70valiant- you just confirmed a suspicion I have had for awhile. However, you still did haveto use the upper bracket and the bracket that bolts to the exhaust manifold rom a two barrel. However, aftet that then you definitely can se the one barrel linkage.

I keep putting "pin" in quotes just because I have never heard it calle dthatbefore. I don't really have a better name either, so don't take offense. I wasn't trying to insult you or anything. I've always called it the throttle rod or some other name.

As far as you adjustment goes, I don'tknow what to say. Different year transmissions did have diffeent length kickdown arms on the transmission. It could be that the kickdown arm on our stock transmission is longer than the kickdown arm on later slant sixes and therefore is designed to have greater travel in the kickdown linkage. The Super Six kickdown may just not have sufficient travel designed into it to move the longer kickdown arm on the older transmission. You might want to try going to a boneyard and pulling the ickdown arm off of several late 70s and early 80s slant six or small block transmissions and see if one of them will cure your problem. You would be looking for a kickdown arm on the trnsmission that is shorterthan the one you have now.

Reed

How much room is there around your linkage? You might be able to straighten the bends in the rod a little to get the length you seem to be missing.
Just make sure it's not going to catch on anything and stick your throttle.
Also, you can use a small nut and bolt in the slot behind the throttle rod/pin to effectively shorten the slot.

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"A mechanic is Somebody."
- Jim Preston

a shorter rod would allow the lever to on the tranny to be pushed back farther? i would have thought the rod would need to be longer? putting a bolt in the slot sounds like it might be a good idea. has anyone ever had to try this before? ill pobably try it today since i cant seem to make anything else work. then i might use my sixcylinder kickdown and see how that goes. thansk for the help and any more ideas could be helpful.

What Reed is referring to is the lever on the trans that the kickdown rod hooks onto. A shorter lever requires less rod travel to go from stop to stop (full back to full forward), if you follow what I'm saying.
I've used the bolt in the slot trick on many cobbled linkages with great success.

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"A mechanic is Somebody."
- Jim Preston

i just tried the bolt thing and from the top of the car it seemed like the lever was going all the way back at WOT. i didnt get under the car to check or make any adjustments though. i took the car out on the road and the same thing. a shift at 10 mph and another slipping shift into 3rd at 20 mph. when do yall trannys shift when your taking off at a normal speed? im starting to wonder if it always shifted like that and im just paranoyed that i messed something up and didnt notice it before. ill get under the car later to check things out from under there again later. another thing i cant understand is why, if i take off from a stop and floor it, the tranny shifts firm into second at like 30 mph and then a little weak (but acceptable) into 3rd at about 60mph? these mph readings are off my speedometer which i know is off but i dont have a tach to see when my tranny is shifting. why at WOT does my trans shift fine but when driving like a sane person it shifts early and slips?

It might be too late for that trans - what does the fliud look like? Smell?
Most stock VBs are set for early soft shifts, and it doesn't take long for them to start slipping with insufficient KD.
Pull the pan and look for friction material. If it's not too bad you might be able to crutch it for a while by increasing the line pressure adjustment on the VB. This should also raise your shift points across the board.

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"A mechanic is Somebody."
- Jim Preston

whats VBs? the fluid looks and smells fine. i dont think ive driven my car near enough to ruin the trans. i still dont understand why my shifts are firm when i accelerate hard. if my trans was shot id think it would slip all the time not just during normal acceleration. my trans worked perfectly fine before the swap. no problems except a little slip into 3rd, a very little slip and it only didnt this on very rare occasions.

VBs = valve bodies
Shifts are harder at WOT because the kickdown linkage directly controls the pressure inside the trans; that little extra pressure helps apply the clutch/band harder to deal with increased engine power.
If the third shift is soft, slipping a little, under normal driving as well as "weak" under WOT, it's very possible there is at least some damage to the clutches/bands.
It *could be* that your trans was marginal before the swap, and driving even a little with very low line pressure *might* have pushed it over the edge.
Have you adjusted the bands properly?
Double check your linkage, adjust the bands, turn up the line pressure (allen head screw on the side of the valve body) a little, get some fresh fluid and a filter in there and you might be ok.
All it'll cost is a filter kit and some fluid.

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O==\=/==O

"A mechanic is Somebody."
- Jim Preston

i dont know if anyone else has had this problem but my super six kickdown rod was just too short. i installed the 1bbl kickdown and it adjusted fine. it went all the way forward and all the way back and my tranny is shifting fine again. it just rubs a little on another linkage but not enough to hurt anything or make any difference. thanks 70valiant', if it wasnt for ur pic and post id still be wondering why i couldnt get my trans to work right.

glad to be of service

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