Welp, I ended up tracking down another Motorola VOT that matched very closely in numbers (thanks,
http://www.oldradioparts.com/) and vertical deflection returned at last!
the set still needs some tweaking:
-the audio buzzes with high-contrast text/guide screens,
-you can hear hissing with "sss" and "fff" sounds when people talk,
-contrast is not consistent from shot to shot,
-after running for a an hour or so the picture begins to go dark on the left end of the screen.
but otherwise it runs pretty well now.
one other thing I'm noticing that may need to be addressed sooner than later is that the picture will sporadically begin to pulse or wobble in size, almost as if the high voltage is fluctuating, yet the horizontal pitch and sync doesn't change. any thoughts?