From your picture, I would place a bolt through the hole and into a board, another bolt on the left side of the hole and under the rod, then another on the right side of the hole and on top of the rod. Now you can pull the rod down to straighten it without putting any bends in the wrong place. My friend had one of these repro rods snap right at the hole, and it snapped when he only pushed the pedal with his hand.