Transmission questions. Manual valve body?

Thanks. I'm changing out the carb to a Holley Sniper as soon as all the parts come in but I'm assuming that I will still need to have a kickdown assembly installed. In the meantime, should I shift manually all the time?
You really shouldn't drive it anymore at all until you get the kickdown linkage set up (or switch to a manual valve body). As stated before, it will ruin your transmission. I know this from experience (young and dumb in the late 1980s is my excuse).