Hey! Sorry just saw this.
Yes it worked out and seems pretty sturdy, thankfully. The part that was unnecessarily draining for me personally was making the threaded insert hole centered where the bolt goes, which is where the s-plate holes are on each side. If the bolt didn't go in then I was pretty much screwed because the joystick is recessed in that exact location with a botched hole.
What gave me peace of mind (but still was not a perfect solution!) was getting self centering drill bits. It took guess work out of finding the center. But hey, some of us are just better at perceiving the center.