904 throttle lever question

[pauly v.100]

My buddies 69 Valiant with 318/904 isn't quite finished yet but he needs it to drive because he has to move. We have a complete kickdown linkage on the way but it won't arrive until the middle of next week. He needs to move this weekend.
Is there some way to safely drive the car without the kickdown assembly installed? Is there a safe position to lock down the throttle lever? He tried moving the car before and it died as soon as he put it in gear. I told him to stop trying or he would blow the trans up.
Any help is greatly appreciated. -pauly

 

[TrailBeast]

You can tie the TP half way back and be plenty safe for the trans, but it'll shift late and harder at low RPM's and early at the upper throttle range.
Won't hurt anything though.

Dying when put in gear is a different problem, like timing and not caused by the trans.
It could however be due to a strong cam with a stock converter. (If that's what it has in it)

 

[pauly v.100]

Thanks, We'll try that. The car does have a mild Thumpr series cam and stock convertor, but one time when we tried to put it in gear, it acted perfectly normal- no hard shift into gear which killed the motor. That one time it remained running as it should, and the shift into drive was soft, so we knew there must be a sweet spot for the throttle lever position. thanks again- pauly

 

[TrailBeast]

Thanks, We'll try that. The car does have a mild Thumpr series cam and stock convertor, but one time when we tried to put it in gear, it acted perfectly normal- no hard shift into gear which killed the motor. That one time it remained running as it should, and the shift into drive was soft, so we knew there must be a sweet spot for the throttle lever position. thanks again- pauly

Sounds good, but keep in mind that it should never kill the engine no matter where it is.
You should be able to move it to any position and barely even affect the idle normally.
I would suspect it was timing or fuel related that it dies.

The trans will be fine, just dont get on it real hard till the linkage is fixed.

 

[pauly v.100]

set it up like you said, softer shifting into drive and rev, but it still dies. wierd is that the motor ran fine fine before, now not so much. rough idle, run it up to 1500+ and it sounds kinda krappy. i noticed there was slop in the dist. rotor. i'm gonna check mine tomorrow and see if it has some slop, if not we'll change dist's and see. thinking the comp cams thump'r may need a bronze gear. i have a spare so i'll check it out, ...on Monday! haha
-pauly

 

[TrailBeast]

set it up like you said, softer shifting into drive and rev, but it still dies. wierd is that the motor ran fine fine before, now not so much. rough idle, run it up to 1500+ and it sounds kinda krappy. i noticed there was slop in the dist. rotor. i'm gonna check mine tomorrow and see if it has some slop, if not we'll change dist's and see. thinking the comp cams thump'r may need a bronze gear. i have a spare so i'll check it out, ...on Monday! haha
-pauly

Yea, there is something else wrong to make it die going into gear.
Hope you find it.

Make sure the brake booster isn't leaking vacuum while you're in there if has a booster.