With the parts from Van's in hand...I jumped back over to the aileron pushrods and cut the 48" piece down to 2 @ 24" and then ground and smoothed the cut ends so that the finished length measured 23 13/16". I set up the drill press with the #40 drill bit after making a punch mark on the pushrod. Using the #40 as a pre-drill first - I then re-drilled with the #30.
It came out - as per plans - then I primed the insides of the tubes and will let that dry for a day or two before getting it all riveted up.