I can see that there is nothing connected to the return lever post. It turns freely, but there's nothing connecting it to anything else.

If you are using hardened steel wire - and it sounds as if you are when you said it was too rigid to bend properly - you may need to heat it up to red heat and quickly bend it round a pair of round-section pliers (as used for jewellery making)  Obviously, you'll need a second pair of pliers to hold the wire over the flame etc.  It is quite difficult to get the length of a missing link exactly correct first time, so you'll probably have to have several attempts.