Turbo Tie Rods, Need help with install . . . Options

[Marlow]

I bought a turbo tie rod kit off of ebay (before I knew there were quality differences) and with my current finances I'm stuck with the cheap ones (still made in Germany though). I've read every post about the complaints (cheap boots & nylon lock nut) so I swapped the grease boots off the old ones and drilled the tie rod end threads to accept the castellated nuts and cotter pins.

The old ones came out easily, in fact my loose front end was because one of the threaded ends that goes into the end of the steering rack rod was actually loose.

Here's my dilemna: everyone suggested making the new tie rods exactly as long as the old tie rods to make alignment much easier. Except with the large washers they are too long, the tie rod doesn't thread far enough into the end. I temporarily mocked everything up (car is still in the air but wheels are on) and my toe is 1/2" difference front to back (toe-in).

I'm thinking my options are;

1) cut about 1/4" off each tie rod threaded section so the ends will screw in farther
2) leave the large washers off and this will give me the extra 1/4" (how critical are they as "rack stops")

I wish I could just resell these and buy the Lemferder's but I don't have the time or money. What do you guys think?