My car is a '66 Valiant but the throttle and kickdown linkage is '67. Don't know if it was molested(I really don't think so but who knows after 44 years) or was just late in the model year and got some newer stuff.

Anyway, all my manuals are '66 and the '67 linkage is different.Now with all the background bs, here is my question.

Where the rod goes from carb down into the transmission lever, is there supposed to be a bushing or something in there? My linkage seems to be extremely sloppy down by the transmission.

Thanks for any help. Dennis

What difference is it that you're seeing, exactly?
No. The rod should be an exact fit in the trans lever. If it is not, somebody has hacked or damaged it.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

The throttle is a cable whereas the '66 is supposed to have a series of rods connecting the gas pedal to the carb.

The kickdown is one long rod going down from a mechanism at the base of the exhaust manifold down to the transmission lever and the '66 is supposed to look like below, according to my FSM.


Or it could have a lot of wear?

'65 and '66 A-bodies with slant-6 engine and factory A/C used a cable setup almost identical to the '67 setup (A/C box took up space under the dash needed for the rotating-rod throttle setup). And '64-'66 A-bodies with the V8 engine also used a cable setup, so another possibility is that your car started out with a V8 engine and someone swapped in a Six.
Doubt it -- there's just not a lot of force on that junction, and the parts are made of hard metal.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

That would explain it. I didn't see the other diagrams in the FSM. My car has air. It is just removed while I'm doing some of the work on it.

Guess I'm going to have to get down there and find out what's going on at the rod and lever junction. The hole in the lever just seems to be wallowed out a lot. Thought there might be a bushing there.

Thanks for the help.

Check for presence of the clip that holds the rod into the trans lever, and make sure the lever itself is firmly attached to the kickdown shaft.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Well, I finally got the linkage rod out and the lever off the transmission. The rod tip measures 0.240 and the hole in the lever measures 0.262.
This much play over the length of the rod and with the bends in the rod (to get around the automatic column shift mechanism) making its weight unbalanced caused it to be kind of sloppy. I think it did just get too much wear. The rod is hard but not so hard that you can't scratch it with an awl. The lever is about the same, maybe not quite as hard.

Think I'll just make a new lever at the shop. Easy part to replicate.

Thanks for all the help.

Sorry about this whole thing kind of getting blown out of proportion. I just thought maybe it was as simple as a bushing replacement.



By the way, I just now added the extension seen in the picture for my 2 brl.