I suppose its a shame for a good Cbody fan to admit it, but I'm not entirely sure what is the correct way to set up the kickdown linkage for the 727. I had to change the carb out, which meant the linkage had to be shifted around. I sorta took a guesstimate based on where it was before hand, but Id rather know how to do it RIGHT. Any answers, folks?
This is from an earlier post where a guy needed to do it with the tall throttle bracket installed, but it is pretty much the same with the short stock bracket :
1) pull vertical rod off bell crank 2) put the 3/16" drill bit through all three holes (one in the bracket, two in the bell crank - see pic 2) 3) pulling the vertical rod all the way UP (see pic 2) turn the end counter clockwise (ccw) to lengthen it - you will have to turn it almost all the way to the end-make it a bit longer than it needs to be to line up with the ball on the bell crank. 4) remove drill bit, reattach vertical rod.
Now for the fun part: Your horizontal rod is most likely too short (especially with the tall performer RPM bracket-pic 1) -buy the appropriate Edelbrock spacer. To do the below procedure remove the red spring you see in the pics (or whatever spring yours has)
1) Have friend/wife/child sit behind wheel and make vrrroooom sounds as they hold gas pedal to the metal - adjust throttle cable so carb is wide open. 2) With above still holding throttle wide open, push the kickdown bell crank at the vertical rod all the way down as far as it will go - it should almost hit the valve cover. (pic 3) 3) While holding bell crank all the way down with throttle still wide open (pic 3) adjust length of HORIZONTAL rod so there is no space (pic 4) in the slot, but no pre load either (pic 5)
<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Sat Aug 07 2010, 04:28PM ]</span>
That is the procedure for setting the baseline minimal pressure--you can adjust the line pressure (and therefore speed at which the trans upshifs) by changing the length of the vertical rod- lengthen it about three turns and the pressure will go up and so will upshift speed. Just don't go too far or it won't up shift at all - if you do have to shorten back down some don't shorten it more than the baseline setting.
Joined: Sat Jan 24 2009, 01:28AM
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 207
GREAT WRITE UP AND PICS! I am going to swap intakes and will come back to this thread when needed. Thanks for taking the time to explain this with detailed pictures.
Joined: Thu Jul 08 2010, 10:24PM
Location: Pleasant Hill, CA
Posts: 415
One must also remember to start off by getting the transmission throttle control lever all the way forward against it's stop without undue pressure and keep it there while making the adjustments. The manual shows a spring being used to do this. I was also reading last night an on line explanation of adjusting and the fellow wanted to increase the line pressure. He did so by only going two more turns from the base adjustment and felt that was more than enough to move the 2-3 shift into the 35-40 mph range. Given that I would only go 1 turn at a time past base line.
Joined: Thu May 01 2008, 11:15AM
Location: Chicago,IL
Posts: 2868
Anyone looking for the performance feel will enjoy making the vertical rod a bit longer and then backing off the preload at the carb. Essentially you're then setting it up to always act as though you have the throttle part way open. This is part of the mod's that makes your tranny do a 3-2 downshift while on the decel when you're making turns at intersections, something that is a must with big cars and highway gears IMO.