I think my 8 ¾ housing is toast.

Yes, that was one of my concerns too. I was thinking that it might be ok since the new perch goes 1/2 way around the tube (and is fully boxed) and the addition of the back brace...but I don't know.

This is the perch I'm using:

http://calvertracing.com/springperch.php

Perches look good to me.
I added a line to my last post, what do you think?