[Corley]

I once took a Pontiac starter apart that someone had cut some of the pole pieces off, trimmed both ends of each pole pieces a bit, and stuffed some plastic in to keep the windings centered. I imagine they were attempting to reduce the efficiency of the starter, by reducing the magnetic field. This would be wastful of battery amps I suppose, but would reduce the slam effect.

In thinking about it, I suppose you could also reduce a starters power output by rotating the end plate a bit one way or the other, so the brushes moved the armatures magnetic force to a less than optimal position, again, this would reduce power output, slow the speed, but not reduce the current draw, so this is not the "best" solution.

However, if I was in Australia, I might be tempted to try one of those "outside the box" ideas rather than pony up for fast shipping if I was in a pinch. Just a thought...