The good news is I have the cylinders, but part of the deal was him coming to put them back on too. Once it was determined that he wouldn't warranty the repair unless I flushed the hydraulics (lots of water in the oil) that is where we sit now. I was going to trade him a scrap car I had for a better deal on helping flush, but I'll assume that offer is no longer any good (the benefit for me being his less expensive oil costs), especially since I scrapped the car last Friday. By hoping the cylinder rebuild really happened, from my post above, they've been returned and they look, externally, nicer than when they left. I've got to think that he did do a reseal.
I'm chalking it up to a lesson poorly learned, and I'll do the work from here. I'm pretty confident with what I've got to do, just need the money and time to do it. The other sucky part is the guy seemed knowledgeable, and could teach me some hands on stuff. Even though his prices were high I could have seen sending him more (and more appropriate) work. Maybe it just wasn't worth it for him. Whatever.