Restoring a 1984 IBM Selectric vs just replacing the guts

Got a Selectric II from an estate sale for $40 last month. Tried doing the full tear down, cleaning every cam and spring, replacing the mylar strip. Took me about 6 evenings and I still couldn't get the shift mechanism to stop jamming. Then I found a guy online selling a working donor machine for $75 and just swapped the whole top assembly in. 45 minutes and it types like new. Maybe it's just me but sometimes the old-school repair path isn't worth it when parts machines are that cheap. Anyone else hit a wall like this and just went the donor route instead?

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