This will sound crazy... but I had the same problem. Couldn't even get my mini-starter out with the hooker headers I have. unfortunately the headers studs/nuts were really rusted and I knew that trying to remove them would have ended up with a broken stud in the head. Didn't want to mess with that.
I ended up removing the transmission and sliding it back far enough to slide the starter out from the back! lol...
Ugh, 10 lbs in a 5 lb bag at times.
Would there be any dielectric problems using stainless steel studs? That problem is usually at, say, a cold water heater with copper against iron,
Now if we could build headers out of memory metal,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape-memory_alloy , that would make things easier.
