At worse I gave you a "tsk, tsk"
Not a rebuke at all, but a friendly kick in the pants to say "don't reinvent the wheel" just step back and plod away and it'll get done. A kick, I might add that I have received once or twice. I find it quite often calms me down and focuses me on the issue.
That said I have to order every single bit from Edmonton 1400km to the south of me and I have absolutely 0 heavy industries within 300km of me, my nearest town being 300km away. So , I understand your dilemma and there are people a lot farther away from help that have built restores (I'm very curious about the Brazilian MV/cmp restores and how hard it was for them). Quite often there aren't quick fixes and hurrying breaks things.
As for bearings, who cares if no one will give you the numbers, for one, they will be on the bearing and two just take the old bearing and race in to a bearing supply house ( I use Western Bearing or BC bearing in canada ) and they will match one for you. Or you can mic the pieces or take them in to the counter and they will help.Have you got the manuals and parts lists? They have the numbers and Alex Blair on this forum has outstanding reprodutions of them...and I don't even get a buck for the plug.
If you are far away from these sources then you should start a list and a box of the stuff you are going to take with you the next time you are near a supplier. This way you won't be scrambling and forgetting what you need 5 minutes before leaving. Don't under estimate the yellow pages and internet for sources also.
And , yup, you can ask here too god knows I'm not the only one here
Sean