I would always go with "had been" able to when referring to the past. The word "was" can be construed as past or future unless you add the "yesterday" in which you have done. Example, I asked him if he was able to go to the cinema. Without the yesterday placed in the sentence you would not know if this was past or future. I'm not sure how grammatically correct my answer is but this is how I would say it.

Know more info about - This is ok as slang, clearly the correct word is information. The second and third sentences sound ok but the third is not correct. The term old mind is not a term which is used at all. The term narrow minded is used frequently as long as you are using it in the correct context.