I bought this from store new, although your comment about how they maybe "adjusted" spacing intrigues me, it made me remember that it's always bothered me that the rear tire seems slightly off center; at the spot between the frame, you can see in the slideshow I made that the tire is indeed closer to one side than the other. Look especially at the peak of the tire and the frame welds above it. The bike store guys said that's normal and doesn't indicate any issue with frame or wheel. But I wonder if perhaps someone there DID "tweak" the frame for spacing when putting it together. The store, btw, closed up about 15 years ago.
So I uploaded a slide show to youtube. I took several pics looking down at how close the clamps are to the frame at several heights along the frame. The platform/main piece that clamps to the seatpost is very high up, giving me the most flex on these struts. Also note that in the pics, I am pushing firmly against that strut to get it as close to the frame as possible, AND all the screws/bolts are VERY, VERY loose. Once I start tightening the strut to the main platform of the rack, this situation gets MUCH worse. And this issue exists on both sides, it's not that I have the rack off center. In fact, in these pics, the other side would actually be worse.
I appreciate people taking the time to view and help. Since I still can't post links, you can find the video by searching youtube for "Some dumb ahole trying to install a shi**y bike rack on his crap bike", but use the actual swearword.
Thanks all