It's funny that I never read about replacing the bushing on the transaxle case for the starter on this forum. On TheSamba forum (I have a '70 beetle), people replace the bushing as a matter of course when a new starter is installed. I know I did mine. You'd think there would be more discussion on the starting bushing issue... I'll have to check my Bentley to see if they even mention it.
Thought I'd be replacing the starter on my '88 but didn't so I never got that far into it so I can't help you with the plastic cap issue. As it turned out, all I needed was a new ground strap to eliminate my intermittent no cranks.
