Hamm0ckjames Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 Howdy Again, My Apologies, You probably have already covered this question before. But here goes, As some of you know I'm installing an Edelbrock 4bbl intake manifold on my 1986 F150 with the 2bbl 351w. And soon to be perched upon top of that will be the nefarious Quadrajet, on which a kick down linkage connection will either have to be fabricated or made to fit from a donor carb by myself. However the idea of a kick down cable has been offered up, of which I have no experience with. So I am looking for a bit of feedback from y'all as to which might be the better option. Since the linkage arm has been around for as long as the C6 has, I presume, I would imagine it would be the way to go since the designers created it in the first place. But, and there's always one of those,,, Since those engineers have retired and the next generation of thinkers came up with the cable component, I'm at a loss as to which of the two would offer better performance and bank for the buck. So if you please, offer up some of your expertise, I greatly appreciate it. Thank you,,,,, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 I think the stock kickdown linkage can be modified to fit basically any carb. I haven't done it as I just left the linkage off and pulled the shift lever down when I wanted to shift. Anyway, here's what the parts catalog shows: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 You do not seem to have seen some of the Mustang systems, they had a short piece of flexible cable from a lever on the throttle shaft on the firewall to the downshift lever on the side of the C4 transmission. The C6 uses the same style. Since you choose to run a Generous Motors carburetor, you have, as I see it two options, fabricate a floating lever that will actuate the existing downshift rod, or, since many Quadrajets have a "tail" on the bottom of the throttle lever, it can be used to pull a rod, cable or otherwise forward and the short outer lever from a Mustang application that used the pull cable can be actuated by it. The third option would be to use a solenoid from a power deck lid release to operate the downshift lever and a switch the throttle linkage contacts at WOT to activate it. GM did this on the Turbo-Hydramatics rather than use a mechanical system. Be glad you aren't dealing with an AOD, their throttle system is very sensitive to adjustments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamm0ckjames Posted August 23, 2019 Author Share Posted August 23, 2019 You do not seem to have seen some of the Mustang systems, they had a short piece of flexible cable from a lever on the throttle shaft on the firewall to the downshift lever on the side of the C4 transmission. The C6 uses the same style. Since you choose to run a Generous Motors carburetor, you have, as I see it two options, fabricate a floating lever that will actuate the existing downshift rod, or, since many Quadrajets have a "tail" on the bottom of the throttle lever, it can be used to pull a rod, cable or otherwise forward and the short outer lever from a Mustang application that used the pull cable can be actuated by it. The third option would be to use a solenoid from a power deck lid release to operate the downshift lever and a switch the throttle linkage contacts at WOT to activate it. GM did this on the Turbo-Hydramatics rather than use a mechanical system. Be glad you aren't dealing with an AOD, their throttle system is very sensitive to adjustments. Thanks for the reply guys, And no I am not familiar with the mustang set up. I do have several donor carbs I can rob parts off of to fab up a floating lever, that was pretty much the plan from the start. But a buddy of mine brought up the cable idea and I thought I should get some advice from some guys that have used it over the rod. My plan is to keep is simple, and dependable. It will be cheaper to stay with the rod set up I suppose, but I'm just considering other options to see which might be better in the long run. My intake manifold is in the mail, I should see it in a few days. Then the fun begins,,,,,,lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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