4k swap / back in starter bushing hell again

[treed2@u.washington.edu (T. Reed)]

Okay so I've been contemplating a 4K tranny swap for a long time but have
never found a suitable tranny for sale in the Seattle area. I'm interested
in the 4K purely because of the torquier final drive..

- What other tranny codes (if any) have the same final drive AND 1st-4th
  ratios as the 4K? And how rare are they?

- With a 4K I can just swap drive flanges from my AGB on to the 4K and
  solve the 90mm/100mm problem, right?

I'm fighting the starter bushing again - last time I put in a rebuilt
starter, pulled the bushing and tried to hammer a new one in - finally
got it "in" but it was all mushroomy and hairline cracked. I knew it
wouldn't last long that way but I was hoping it would last more than 100
starts. It didn't and now my 1 month old starter is jamming or shorting
internally - I can't tell which. Either way it takes 10+ starts to get the
engine going (only if I'm lucky) and I can tell I'm damaging the new
starter every time. I stopped driving it because I know I'm just gonna get
stranded somewhere.

Not sure what to do because the new bushing is still 0.5mm bigger than the
hole its supposed to go in to. I almost wanna take a drill to the hole and
make it bigger. It doesn't seem like it should be this way.

Of course I could avoid doing that if I found a 4K in reasonable shape
for a reasonable price in the Seattle area.. but thats not gonna happen.

I /could/ take it to a shop and pay $50 to hear them say that the bushing
isn't the right size for the hole but that doesn't get me anywhere
either...
Help!

-Toby