[cobrashoch]

Depends on how it's built. Generally no to the kickdown rod, it's only there for a passing gear or kickdowns, but you might still need vacume to the vacume kickdown valve, it depends. A true full manual body bypasses all that stuff however. My question is why? All fully auto transmissions can be made to shift so hard they will knock your teeth out, and can be made to shift up or down on demand too. Yes a full manual is a little tighter on high rev. shifts, but that little bit you gain on a full manual (reverse pattern) shift is very minor considering you are giving up auto shifting and a lot of streetability. Your call,,,,,,,,,,,, but you need to talk to the folks or guy that built the darn thing either way. I'm of the opinon that if it's got a trans brake you need a full manual body transmission.
If you don't have a trans brake you need to let it shift on it's own.