The threads are waaaay back there in the block. 3/8NC IIRC. Hard to imagine somebody pulled the threads out of the cast iron. Could happen though, I guess.
Here in Sweden we live in the "metric" system and the bolt I pulled out was a M10 not 3/8. From what I´ve heard sometimes the bolts rusts and stucks/cracks. I think thats what have happened and the previous owner redoned the threads to M10 and still shot.
Now it looks like this with spacers and alignment is perfect. Have not sealed the bolt yet and the adjustment bracket is not mounted.
If I succeed seal it , I will Helicoil the threads in the future.