I went to a Lokar cable operated carb setup eliminating the old linkage on my 54 merc.  I changed my transmission this winter with still another mercomatic to keep my car basically stock. I now don't have any kickdown linkage. I figured I could just drop it into Low to hit "passing gear".  Can I just tie up the kickdown lever on the tranny?  Will have any effect on the shifting?
It is actually nice out here today in the Adirondacks of NY so I took the car up the road a short distance, to try it out with the "new" rebuilt tranny & I just got it up to 50 & it didn't shift to 3rd, thus the question.   Any help will be appreciated!     Mike

sure way to screw up a good trans.you must have kik down as that regulates trans presure,which intern controles up and down shifts

If the Merco is the same as Fordo Its not a kick down its a pressure sensing rod [same as Chrysler] , and must be there and adjusted properly or you will destroy your trans.



"Came too close to dying to stop living now!"

I used the Lokar setup with my AOD but I don't see how you can get away from the kick down rod. Its operation is very specific.



Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

Whew, Thanks guys for the info. I guess I didn't do the research on that. "backyard mechanic"   Now I will try to take care of this before I put her back on the road this coming spring.  Any ideas on installing a different kickdown like a lokar? I left the original bracket attached to the intake & mounted my Lokar cable end on it, which works great.   After looking at Lokars kickdown cables which one would work the best on my setup?.  My carb linkage is just a Holley 94 as I have the Offenhauser 3 deuce manifold but only use the center carb.    Thanks, Mike

Mike, I too looked at this exact problem. The only possibility I could come up with was a cable that ran to the back of the transmission pan and then forward to the kickdown lever. This would use the original bell crank setup. I think adjusting the cable kickdown would be difficult. Its hard enough to get the metal rod adjusted perfectly. Are you running the Lokar cable to the carburetor or just attached to the bell crank. Then you could just keep the kick down rod. Good luck!


Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

I Ran the Lokar throttle cable from lever of my new gas pedal which goes "through the firewall", using the bell crank as the bracket point to attach the cable & the inside cable to the carb.. I unhooked all the linkage including the downrod to the transmission .    I looked at some examples of setups online & It may be possible to run the cable from the back like you suggest.  This way it would be pulling down on the "kickdown" lever operating it, as the old downrod pushed it.
 If not,  I saw an idea from 60ford on another site that he fabricated a bracket mounted from the tranny pan, with a threaded rod with nuts on it to adjust the lever to the correct Pressure needed & set it there. It would shift correctly, but there wouldn't be the kickdown  for passing.    Thanks for the help.

The old throttle linkage never worked right at all.

Depending on gear you can pull it down to second if you have to. If you still have the 56 style bell crank on the engine I would think you could just use the old kickdown setup.

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire