While attempting to install the forward elevator control rod I decided to first just slip a couple bolts loosely in place and check the travel and movement. Boy, I'm so glad I did this.
With both control rods in place I found that I had no forward (pitch down) control on the elevator. I had good "pull back" control, with the elevator hitting the control stop, however when I pushed forward on the joystick it only went slightly past the neutral position. Upon closer inspection I found that one of the underfloor seat ribs had not been cut out properly by the Vans Quickbuilders, and the control mechanism fouled on the rib. The pictures below show the problem, and my remedy.
I had to enlarge the opening in the rib to match the others, which required that I first remove the joystick control linkages. All up the job took me a couple hours to fix. Not too happy with the Vans personnel who put this together, but at least it wasn;t too big a deal to rectify.
The control mechanism was fouling on the opening in the rib, which hadn't been enlarged enough
The area I needed to cut out of the rib opening to allow full control of the elevator