Thanks for the input guys....turns out I had tightened the throttle housing back with the black plastic ring inside. It is supposed to act as barrier between tube and housing. Guess that's what I get for taking a dinner break in the middle of the install. Also, I moved my bars forward to the "+2" position and my cables seem to have more slack....not much though. I do not plan on cutting the bars and I don't see any reason to do so...my controls barely fit as it is! And I DID remove the locator tab within the starter housing....which was really just a victim of my frustration, but I don't believe it is going to cause much trouble in the future, especially with my triple clamp mounts! Time will tell.
I plan on mounting my Handguards tonight, but I can already sense a trip to the hardware store may be in order as the clamps look like they will need longer bolts and the angle of the end of hand guard doesn't seem to match angle of clamps once set. I will report back.....