Wmb
It sounds like you have an Explorer rather than an Excelleron. The Excelleron has tubes installed to run the pull-pull cable thru. The Explorer doesn't.
I flew an Explorer before Sportsman Aviation/Hobby People brought over the Excelleron.
Instead of offsetting my servos I added a rail to raise the rudder servo. This way they were both centered in the fuse.
I originally flew it with the retracts but soon got tired of that and replaced the entire plate forward of the former the wing plugs into and installed Bolly F3A Larg swept gear mounted just in front of that former. Never had a problem with the gear and the plane took a beating thru many flights.
I enjoyed the litle hatch in the back of the plane when installing the pull-pull calbles as this was my first pull-pull install. The cable were contacting a former about 6 inches in front of the hatch and I had to sand a notch for clearence of the cables. The hatch was invaluable for getting to this trouble spot.
The YS 110 is the perfect motor for it Although I have a friend who flew one with a Saito 125 with good success.

Eddie