DING-DING-DING-DING
We have a winner! I bolted the case halves together (with good thru-bolts this time) and the saddles are straight, the thrust surface is good, and no "syndrome".
Guy almost scamed me on the shipping. He said it would go via UPS Ground for $52.00
. When it arrived, it had a FedEx label on the sorry box he shipped it in. Actual shipping charge was $25.21, and I brought this to the seller's attention. He said he will send a check for reimbursement
.