Nice work !
I think you were going in the right direction, so thanks for sharing the fix.
To adjust the contacts, you can use needle nose pliers, or a contact adjustment tool. There's a picture here ;
http://www.pbresource.com/tools.html"L contact adjuster"
They are easy to make from a piece of copper pipe bent to shape, and the tip has a small cut - easy to do with a metal saw.
You can pull the stack apart, but adjusting should be easier.
