I left this thread hanging long enough! (What, 6 months?) Today, I screwed up courage and unscrewed the mount screws using the drill press method. That was easy-peasy for someone crippled with arthritis. (I no longer have the steady hand, strength, dexterity, nor ability at fine grasping - so no wonder I blew my first attempt back in early January.)
I waited 2 months for the screw extractor from Japan and then re-ordered after that appeared lost in the mail. Short story, is that I did not need the extractor, nor heat from a pencil butane torch. Using a cut off Phillips shank from a cheap jeweler's set, I was able to get some purchase on the stripped head, where the JIS shank could no longer bite. However, the JIS shank (thanks to the drill press) served well for the remaining screws. The old screws which I had mangled in the first attempt were replaced with new ones. There is now no evidence remaining of amateurish ham handedness.
The lens works fine in my digital bodies, but the AI aperture ring turns stiffly. The stops click in OK, just a bit harder to turn the ring. Obviously it is not as nice a ring as the pre-AI version.
I'm pleased and relieved that the project is completed, even 'though my old eyes are not so pleased with manual focus operation.
