Throttle Control / Shifting Issue

Hi all, I'm new to boating and I picked up a nice little boat for a good price. It has a 68-69 Chrysler 55 HP motor on it with stock chrysler controls on it.

It seems to go into gear hard, "clunk", once it is in gear it's fine doesn't pop out or anything. The control at the seat, in my opinion from my limited boating experience, seem to be out of adjustment. To go to WOT the lever goes foward, passed parallel by 20 degrees or so. I don't think that this is normal.

I haven't had a chance to pull the cover off and look at it, but any suggestions are appreciated.

Model is 5555 / Serial 1664 if that helps you at all.

Thanks

Un-hook the linkage at the motor and try shifting the control and see if it's still hard.Might need cables.Any cracks or extreme bend in the cables?
The clunk: what's the rpms in gear/motor warm? Should be 750-800rpm.
If it goes to full throttle then the shifter is probably ok.

With the cables unhooked, they seem to move just fine. However the it's tough to move the shifter on the motor itself. I can post some pictures if need be.

I read an article about these getting stuck, and having to pull the lower unit off and cleaning the soot out. Could that be an issue here?

Here are a couple pics if it helps at all. I can take more if needed.

where are the rpms at when shifting into gear?

I don't have a tach but it shifts about half way up the rpm range, so maybe 2500-3000 rpm. The shift lever on the side of the motor seems to be fairly stiff.

Revs are way too high.First pic top of the picture you see a screw.That's the idle screw.Try to adjust it there.
iboats.com Has a repair forum Top of the Force section is 2 messages,open them and find the one by FrankA Called linc and sinc.Read that and try to apply it to your motor.
Need to adjust the linkage and bring the rpms down.
Try spray lube on all the linkage.
As you shift(motor off) turn prop with your foot.The foot might need to come off and clean the shift rod.J