Okay this address is more of the heart of what we're talking about here...
According to the op he's having trouble with the linkage and wants to possibly eliminate the kickdown linkage? If it's the kickdown linkage he's looking to eliminate a simple transco 3 kit would do that.. and make it a manual shift.. lots of the modern floor shifters have two plates that can accommodate a Forward or a reverse shift... It sounded like the linkage was more of the problem and possibly the reverse pattern was going to be a bonus..
