A904 Hard 1-2 Shift and Reverse

I didn't read the entire thread but... back in the day people would remove the accumulator spring from the trans as a poor boys shift kit. 1-2 shift is quick/hard, 2-3 is instant also. From park to reverse will BAM! into reverse first time after torque converter had a chance to leak down. The 904 in my 67 was rebuilt in 1984 before I bought the car in 2006. I pretty much knew what the problem was but never went in and looked until 2014 when I needed to replace the selector shaft seal. I dropped pan and valve body and sure enough, no accumulator spring. I did check band adjustment and fecked around with throttle pressure a bit but no adjustment was going to correct it.
I have the spring here now. Plan is car goes to trans shop in late March for overhaul.
Meanwhile what I do at cold start after it has sat for weeks is first shift to neutral and let the torque converter fill completely. From neutral to reverse doesn't hit so hard. The rest of it I have lived with.