My vehicle is a 1982 E350-based Motorhome with the 460 engine and C6 transmission. For years I have been messing around with the kick down lever. When I first bought the vehicle, I proceeded to swap out the Motorcraft (Holley) carburetor and intake manifold for an Edelbrock 1411 carb and 2166 manifold. I had to buy an Edelbrock adapter kit to even attach the kickdown lever to the throttle actuator. I then found a number of small interferences with the lever as I bent and twisted it to get at the correct effective length. The c-clip attachment the kickdown rod to the throttle assembly was a major pain given the difficult working arrangement in what passes for an engine compartment on the E350. I then switched the carburetor to an Edelbrock 1406, changed the carb thermal spacer and had to go through the bending act again. Then I found that at full throttle, the bar could jam with other small pieces, so I built a guide channel to keep the lever moving in a specific area. Finally, I have decided to go to a FiTech EFI system. The throttle body linkage is based on a Holley design and all the Edelbrock throttle and kickdown mods are 0.750 inches away from the required connecting area. I gave up on the lever!

I then looked at the aftermarket cable systems (Lokar and various imitators). Procured a Lokar. I was unimpressed with the quality of hardware. Then I read on FTE, after a search on kickdown levers, that the Ford EFI engines using the C6 transmission (88-96 for the 460) used a cable arrangement. A trip to the local pick-n-pull netted me brackets and cable assemblies for $10. The quality is far above and beyond the aftermarket stuff, and the installation was trivial. There is little info on the internet about the Ford cable, but similar cables are available for all the other EFI truck engines (not including the Modular units). Just make sure you are taking the cable from a C6 transmission, the AOD and other trans are different. I include a diagram from the Ford Service Manual showing the linkage for the 7.5 EFI /C6 package. Good luck!

 

This information might be helpful to someone in the near future----thanks for adding it here.

Reps sent!

 

Thought I'd add a few comments, as I just recently had to do a rebuild on my C6 after loosing reverse. Two things come to mind: adjustment and the actual deflection length of the kickdown actuator. As to adjustment, as I detailed in my initiating post above, adjusting the length of the kickdown rod with non-stock hardware required careful bending and concern with interference with other components. With the OEM cable, the issue changes to one of the length of free cable wire extending from the cable terminator/adjustor. A simple pressing of the button on the carb side terminator, then releasing while holding full throttle. A secondary issue is that the available salvage yard cables are all designed for EFI engines and therefore are too long for carburetor application. In my case, I found the cable for the E350/460 EFI/C6 application and found the cable was about 14 inches too long. I installed and quickly adjusted the cable length and drove away happily. I did have to tie down the cable with a judicious set of cable ties, and all was well! Then, several months later, I unexpectedly lost reverse and a professional inspection of the C6 showed that a complete rebuild was necessary. Four days later, I went to get the motorhome with fresh trans, torque converter, etc, etc., and was told everything was functioning perfectly, except for the kick down cable - it had melted!

Well, it turns out that the auto trans professionals eliminated the cable ties --- the cable rested against the exhaust header --- and it melted! So I took a sharper look at the cable. It would have fit cleanly with a nearly straight path to the trans kickdown lever if the cable was 14 inches shorter. Careful measurement of the E350/460 EFI/C6 cable gave a length from carb retaining post socket to kickdown lever socket on the C6 of 53.0 inches. Now, in the yards around me, the E350/460 EFI/C6 combo (Ford Part Number E7TZ-7A187-A) is quite rare. However, Ford Part Number E6TZ-7A187-D is readily found on the following trucks with the C6 transmission: Bronco (87-96), E150 (87-92), E250 (87-92), E350 (87-92), F150 (86-96), F250 (87-96) , and F350 (87-96). This applies to all EFI versions of the 4.9, 5.0, 5.8, 6.9 and 7.5L engines. These are easy to find in just about any self service salvage yard. This cable is just 51.0 inches long. I needed to shorten this cable to a full length of 37.0 inches. This requires cutting off the cable stops at the carb end of the cable wire and capturing the connector to the carb linkage post. Then removing the rubber fuel hose that attaches to the steel cased sheath and the transmission mounted cable driver. Replace this 14" rubber hose with a 2" length of fresh 1/4" I.D. fuel injection hose. I also used cable clamps at the sheath/hose and hose/Kickdown lever assembly. After reassembly, I crimped an aluminum ferrule cable stop on the end of the cable - 37" from the cable end that snaps on the kickdown lever post. Popped together as if it was OEM designed for this application! No more exhaust manifold issues and it works perfectly!

As for the issue of amount of movement to trigger kickdown action, when I had worked and reworked the kickdown rod setup including the Edelbrock kickdown linkage adapter, I noticed the significant amount of movement of the rod from rest to full throttle which I refer to as deflection length. To my surprise, the movement of the cable to to go (at the transmission) from rest to full stop is of the order of 1 inch or less. This is the surprising key to the ease of adjustment of the cable system. On the carb end of the cable, the sleeve retainer has an integral button which releases or locks the cable sheath. To adjust the kickdown cable, press the button releasing the sheath, move the throttle (with kickdown cable connected) to full throttle and then release the button, locking the sheath in place. The result is that at full throttle, the transmission kickdown lever is fully deflected.

Hope this helps somebody bending their kickdown rod!