so I have an update, and I may have to weld after all.
basically, these components are in the wrong places to work right, and one of them (the hastily-pressed-into-service L bracket) has a problem letting the armature move freely.
most of the implementations of this I can find in instruction manuals have two secure hold points for that aluminum tube used to hold the end of the steering cable, except for the one that that gold transom mount bracket came with, which has it just hanging to the left of the motor and directly connected to the motor’s swivel connection point rather than via an armature like this. I really didn’t know what to expect when I ordered these things because so much of it was unclear - I had thought the gold bracket had some mechanism for screwing down such that it would be firmly fixed in one position and unable to move. nope! I tried putting it together such that the end of the armature and the cable would be as close to the same plane as possible - the spot where the bracket is screwed into the transom is the highest point on the transom I could use.
so, problem one is that when you turn the wheel it just wobbles the bar at the end of the cable all over the place, probably because there is only one holding point for the tube. problem two is that at the spot where the bent armature meets the hole in the L-bracket, it can move only a quarter inch or so before it bumps up and stops against the part where the armature’s tube spreads back out to its full diameter. problem three is that the highest point up to which the gold bracket can hold the tube is still too low to line up with the end of the armature.
if I could find some way to secure the tube in the two spots at the top of the front of the black transom clamps rather than using the gold bracket at all, I would solve several of these problems simultaneously, but I don’t know if they’re the same metal (so don’t know if I can weld) and don’t know what the terms of art would be for something I could drill into the metal and use to hold clamps for the tube or whatever. I think I can just cut part of the end of the L-bracket to solve the “not enough space to turn” problem.
at any rate. WOW have I gotten myself into more than I bargained for, hahaha.
ETA: well, then there’s this guy, who apparently just… figured everything out? somehow? Hangkai Electric Outboard Motor Converted to Remote Control - YouTube