NO go without Downshifting

Ok, so I did a trans service on the dart and saw a lot of metal in the pan. i replaced the filter and put it all back together. I then screwed the kick down rod out as in making it longer, and now it shifts better and i don't need to manually down shift to go anymore. I still can't light up the rear wheels though, maybe i will give it a tune up and check the timing and clean out the carb.