I looked up the Casco kick down rods. I think without knowing for sure that TBird and Victoria would be different. I will probably need to drive to my friend's home for a look see. We both have the same 57 manifold with 1956 4 barrel fordomatic bellcranks.

CASCO's catalog show two different kickdown rods - one for a  55/56 and another for a 57. The55/56 does not show any different ones for a air cooled or a water cooled.  The 57 manifold is a little different on the mounting of the linkage than the 56 so this may account for the difference.  Just throwing this out there.  And there was a mid year change in 56 from the air to the water cooled.





54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

I have a friend with a 56 Bird and he found out the same thing when he put on a 57 manifold.





54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

I just wondered if anyone on this site would know if the kickdown rod that connects to the belllcrank on a 56 Victoria with a 4 barreli is different shape and or lenght depending on if you have an air cooled or water cooled Fordomatic. A friend is putting together a 56 Victoria and I gave him an extra rod that I had that was the same as the one on my Victoria. He called me back and said the rod was not right for his car , probably because my car is air cooled and  his is water cooled. I am thinking that the water cooled trans was a late year change in 1956 and the kickdown rod  he needs,might be more common on the 1957 cars. By the way, we have both discovered that the 56 bellcrank is not a perfect fit on the 1957 manifold. We both added washers to shim the bellcrank up a little higher to fit the 1957 manifold.