RE: Welcome to Club SAITO !
On another note; I dis-assembled the engine to really get a good look at the inards and everything looked great.
I did find that with the crankshaft installed in the main case with it's front and main bearing it spun very freely. However, when the rear case with it's intermediate and rear bearing was mounted, the crank had some resistance and did not spin freely at all.
The intermediate bearing is open cage and spins freely alone. The crank feels bound up if it is installed in the rear case alone. If you look at the picture it seems very unlikely that the crank could be bent between these two bearings. The rear bearing is sealed and seems very stiff. I think I'll try to hydraulically pop it out with a dowel and some grease as it is a blind set and see if this may be the RPM robber!
Thanks, Hobbsy forr the link to C.Lee's review and the pic.