Hard Shift from 1st to 2nd

The "feel" you're looking for is in the seat of your pants so to speak. There is no factory value for the force to move the kickdown lever, i.e. pounds/sq. in., etc. if I understood you correctly Pm me with your email address, year of your car, and I can send pic of where to adjust the throtle pressure to control the 1-2 shift. It may be that in the end, you won't find an adjustment to suit you. If you don't find the feel your looking for by adjusting external linkage, you'd have to go inside the trans valve body to make adjustments and that is itself very subjective and cost prohibitive.