Zorin grub-boot issues on system with UEFI32 / ATOM-64

[verkurkie]

Hi all - I apologize up front for yet another "nvram locked" post
Even after a lot of searching, reading, and trying over and over again, I am stuck with my little device that will let me install Linux but won't let me boot into it

here's a link to one of my many boot-repair attempts: https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/jNCyDzGgnG/

I have tried so many things and feel like I'm ever so close! Here's where I'm at right now:
- encountered the dreaded "nvram locked" messages during and after installation (not just Zorin but LM, Feren and others all end up with the same issue)
- my device boots into the `grub>` prompt
- followed this post: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/blog...ub-2-on-linux:
- i can boot into my Zorin installation following the "Booting from grub>" steps
- after booting, i can run `update-grub` successfully in a terminal (as root)
- i can't run `grub-install /dev/mmcblk1` successfully -> the error is related to there not being a "i386-efi" folder
- tried `grub-install` with `--no-nvram`, `--target=i386-pc`, etc. but no luck...

info:
- system has a 32-bit UEFI (Secure Boot=disabled) with 64-bit Intel Atom and a 32GB eMMC "disk" (it's a PIPO X8 Android/Windows dual-boot tablet device)
- created a GPT partition table with a 300MB, fat32 partition with boot and esp flags, the remainder is ext4 Linux filesystem

Hoping that the experts here can help me!

-thanks