Well I haven't spoken to the builder yet but did crawl under the car and took the arm off the pressure plate. Yes it was bent mostly where it pins into the housing assembly. I used a torch to heat the steel before I gently reformed the piece to it's original intent. I had a spare transmission front cover so with bearing assembly in place I was able to check for clearance. Everything appears to be OK and the arm heights are all equal.
We'll see what J&M says about this miss-adventure.
PS... Fork tie-wrapped to the bell housing in two places. This isn't going to happen again.
Chet...