Your ideas in post 20 are good for protecting the transistor however good coupling depends on the resonance of the tx and rx being the same.
Making the inductance and capacitance of the tx and rx tank the same is a good starting point, however the iductance of each coild doesnt have to match, so long as you choose the tank capacitance to make them both resonate at the same freq.
Loading the rx coil will change its Q and if the load is reactive that could change its resonance so you need to test with the load attached.
Putting a trimmer on the 555 to shift freq will enable you to 'tune' to a certain extent.