So my carb was shot on my 79, its a 351M. I also trashed the intake and changed to a Weiand Action +Plus EGR (P/N 8013). The carb is a Holley 600 cfm P/N 80457S 4bbl. I also added a 1" spacer into the equation. My trouble is with the passing gear rod, and throttle cable. Im coming up about 3" short on the rod and also short on the throttle cable,. I can fix the throttle cable, my main concern is that even without the spacer, the passing rod is tight, is there a kit or some kind of extension to fix this? Anyone have the same trouble?
Holley 4bbl trouble
- Thread starter bvteachey
- Start date
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bv, I have the same trouble with the 460 swap in my 84 Bronco with the kickdown rod for the C6 auto. You'll either have to lengthen the rod, or modify the lever on the tranny that the rod attaches to. I modified the lever by extending it. There's a thread in the 80-96 forum with a request by me for picks of the different set-ups that folks have. Might help you, JSM84
Broncobill78
New member
Yeah, I had this same problem with a 460 swap also. Maybe someday L&L will include a kickdown extension with the rest of the kit 
/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> To fix mine I extended the rod by grafting in about 6" from a donor rod scored from a boneyard. The rods are hollow so it wasn't a big deal to section both of them & add in the extension. I found a large pair of brass hose barbs that matched up well with the rod diameter and just soldered the whole thing together. I probably should have silver soldered/brazed it but I didn't have a good torch handy so I pulled a Joe the Plumber on it. Never had any problems out of it though so it might be worth considering.
/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> To fix mine I extended the rod by grafting in about 6" from a donor rod scored from a boneyard. The rods are hollow so it wasn't a big deal to section both of them & add in the extension. I found a large pair of brass hose barbs that matched up well with the rod diameter and just soldered the whole thing together. I probably should have silver soldered/brazed it but I didn't have a good torch handy so I pulled a Joe the Plumber on it. Never had any problems out of it though so it might be worth considering.
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Yes, it's a cinch to remove the kickdown rod. At the carb, it normally has a small key or e-clip on the end of the stud that goes thru the hole in the end of the rod. On the tranny end, same deal. the rod attaches to a small lever arm, either on the outside of the neutral safety switch or behind it. Some of these lever arms are straight, others are C-shaped, but both are flat and have a square slot where they bolt to the tranny. My C6 from the 84 Bronco had the C-shaped lever, and I needed about 1" to mate up to the kickdown rod. So I got another lever, cut it down, and welded it to the C-shaped lever. IT mates up to the kickdown rod, but the "physics" are not quite right. It wants to arc forward more than downward, preventing the tranny from downshifting. Still working on that...
While I was researching this mod, I came across some others where they extended the actual kicdown rod, similar to BB78. A few were made adjustable by welding in a piece of allthread and a nut at each end where it meets the original rod sections. JSM84
While I was researching this mod, I came across some others where they extended the actual kicdown rod, similar to BB78. A few were made adjustable by welding in a piece of allthread and a nut at each end where it meets the original rod sections. JSM84
Ol' Blue
New member
holley makes an adapter piece, i just purchased one for my '78.
Ol' Blue
New member
I sure do, i looked in my Holley parts catalog and here it all is. B)
FORD BRACKETS
Transmission Kickdown
Lever Extensions . . . . . . Part # 20-41
This handy part is used to extend the Ford O.E.
transmission kickdown lever when converting
from a 2 bbl to a 4 bbl carburetor.
