Thanks Carl-Eric
Yep - I ground the second one that I hadn't yet installed and it went together smoothly, no trouble. The cable sleeve proved to be about 1/32" bigger than the hole in the handlebar like the first one, so I drilled it and then it went OK as well after a bit of poking with a pointed tool at the exit. As I said in the earlier post, I bought these cables new almost 40 years ago and I'm convinced the steel winding has expanded slightly in diameter. Anyway problem solved.
I will try pressing out mis-aligned pin but I suspect I might damage it seeing how tight it was to fit up. I have ordered another just in case. Mange takk og hilsen - geir.