I have used the IMI101 starter on bugs (with high compression 1915 engines
that I built) for many years.  Never a problem.  I am now using the IMI104
on my vanagon subie conversion.

Only time I ever had an IMI go bad was my fault. And the parts to fix it
were cheap.  IMI sent them to me very quickly.  I chewed the drive gear up
real bad by using a wrong flywheel.

These starters do turn slower than the stock starters but work very
reliably.  The only time you would have trouble with a slower turning
starter is if you were trying to start an engine with bad compression in the
first place.

Egged out starter bushing hole in the trannie?  No problem.  Not bushed.

jimt