I recently picked up a 1969 Valiant that had been sitting in my neighbors field for close to eight years, he told me it had a problem with the kickdown before he parked it. I revived the old girl and took it for my first drive and realized that not only was it starting in second gear, it was kicking down at close to half throttle and not up-shifting until I let up to a quarter throttle. I can start in first by shifting to first and up-shifting no problem (unless I shift to third with more than half throttle, I must let up to get third). I adjusted the KD linkage according to the factory service manual but this didn't help. I know the trans is correct for the car (3410636 - early 1970) but the 225 is a later Volare engine. I plan on changing the filter tonight and checking the valve body for any obvious problems but I thought I would throw my dilema out there to see if anyone can give me any additional insight.

Sounds like a valve is stuck somewhere in your trans. Time to get a factory service manual for your car.

My first suspect would be the governor itself. There is an 1/8" pipe plug on the extension housing that you could remove IF you had a high pressure hose & gauge (150psi) to test governor pressure- which should be near 0 psi stopped & increase smoothly with speed (roughly 1psi per mph).

Next would be a stuck valve in the valve body itself. With a FSM the average DIY can service the body or the governor without pulling the trans, BUT you need a really clean place to work, & an air compressor to blow out passages is also a plus.

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63 Valiant Wagon
225 - 4 bbl

Thanks, I did read something in the service manual that mentioned the governor valve and/or weights sticking so I am assuming that is a common problem. I didn't notice anything obvious in the pan or filter so I will be dropping the valve body tonight for a good cleaning but it looks like the governor itself can only be accessed by removing the tail shaft housing.