'85 not catching passing gear

flying finn · 03-18-2008, 07:01 PM

Just bought an '85 5.0 LX Vert with a rebuilt AOD trans and a new holley 600 carb installed. It won't catch the passing gear when I punch it, otherwise it is shifting normally. Any tips or suggestions are welcome.

stangbanger87 · 03-18-2008, 07:14 PM

is your kick down linkage hooked up ? or it could be stuck ? there is a lond metal bar that comes over top the trans up to the carb , it has to be hooked to the carb linkage in order to angadge in passing gear , when your carb is matted wi8de open it moves the bar forward to actuate the passing gear (which is second gear in the trans). or you could just down shift to second when you want to go go go .

nitrousd85 · 03-18-2008, 11:07 PM

or you could just EFI that bich lol banger 87 is got you on the wright track

flying finn · 03-20-2008, 07:22 PM

Okay, thanks for the tips so far. I'll update now -

The kickdown kinkage appears to be set correctly, and not sticking. I've now emailed Holley to see if this carb is even correct for my car. They have a warning on their instructions that the 600 cfm electronic choke is not made for Ford AOD's without part #20-91 and would cause severe trans damage. Now, seeing as the motor was professionally built, I'm surprised this may even be an issue.

Aside from the carb issue, I'm starting to lean towards an internal trans issue due to I've also noticed it is not holding 1st gear long enough and shifting to 2nd pretty quick - valve or something. AS bad as I suck at carbs ( every other 5.0 I've had has been EFI), I suck even worse at automatic transmissions

stangbanger87 · 03-20-2008, 09:29 PM

could it be in the valve body and the way it is set . the shift modulator should have an adjustment screw on it to adjust the shift . if it is shifting to quick that could be the reason why the kick down is not engageing .does the trans have a kit in it or was it built with the extra bands and such for the firmer shift .
far as a carb causeing trans issues is a first for me .could it be that the linkage on the side of the carb is to short to actuate the kick down ? as you matt the gas the top of the linkage moves back while the bottom where the kick down is hooked up to moves forward to engage the passing gear , maybe the problem lies there as the linkage might not move the kick down enough to actuate the passing gear.