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