The 5th element with the platform dampening was a bit unreliable, the shim stacked version from TF or Stendec was a great shock. 5th element licensed the pattent to manitou as far as I know and the materials used in the construction of the shock improved in the manitou version.
As for the frame being not as described, most used frames are shit, I spent 5 years buying checking and servicing frames and made very little money doing it. Sellers will tell you what ever they think you want to hear and most simply don’t know anything about bikes?
That said I learnt a lot and I love working on bikes, also I helped out a lot of bikers and kept frames that would have been destroyed in circulation.
Lummox, if you want I will help you find a frame and check it out, my emails in my profile. You can get a good frame cheaply but more likely than not you will need to service it.