OK, some more progress, and obligatory pics.
I cleaned up the frame, did some sanding, and put some color on the rest of the frame. Rattle can paint. Mostly so it would all be the same shade of yellow. The rest of the painting will probably wait until after I've had a chance to do a test drive.
Mounted the remaining (port side) wheels and removed the jack stands.
Spent the next couple hours drilling the control plates and creating the adjustable link between the two plates. It's important that the attachment points at the two plates be at the same distance from the shaft so both points move the same amount as the lever is moved. If one attachment point were to be further away from the central point of rotation, it would move further than the other point and the two plates would not move in sync.
Drilling the plates was a chore. Again, had to resort to a solid carbide twist drill bit. Thank goodness for McMaster Carr. Also, in case you are interested I had to buy a LH die to thread the link rods. I had the standard (RH) taps and dies, but you need a LH die as well if you are using a turnbuckle. McMaster Carr is a great resource (mcmaster.com). Stuff I order arrives in less than 48 hours.
If you decide to buy a solid carbide twist drill bit, you might as well buy a couple. They are very brittle and easily broken. I've used them to drill out stubborn spirol pins. Use them carefully, if they snag in the hole, they will likely break off. Then you're in a pickle. A carbide bit (or any drill bit really) broken off in a hole is a problem for sure.
I have some reservations about the rod and turnbuckle hydro linkage. I used them for the brakes, but those are always in tension. A rod and turnbuckle arrangement is not the best arrangement in compression. I'm unsure about the level of stress that will be placed on this hydro linkage. I thought about using a flat piece of steel, 1/8 by 3/4, long enough to connect the two plates. But I need to be able to adjust the length so the two hydros can be synchronized, specifically in neutral. A pair of flat plates with slots and bolts would allow some length adjustment. Alternately, I may take the spare hydro control rod that came out of the 147 (5/16 rod I think) and cut it and weld in a new section to make it longer. This rod has the ball joint linkage at each end, with some room for length adjustment. I didn't want to do that because I didn't want any play in the linkage and the ball ends have a bit of play. So we will see how this works.
Next up is to clean the carb and get this engine running again. As I mentioned, I have another engine (10 or 12 hp, don't remember which right now) that I can drop in.
Thinking ahead, I will need to temporarily mount some sort of seat to test this thing out once I get the engine running.
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