What I ended up doing was removing the fitting from the mast with an air driven impact driver. Removed the old wire easily. Drilled a hole through the top part of the visible casting (opposite where the wire enters). Rounded the entry and exit for the hole with a dremel and a cone shaped bit. Then lashed the Spectra backstay eye to the fitting with lots of turns of 1/8" Spectra. Very flexible and as the loads won't be too great (just the runner for a small staysail) I think it will work quite nicely.
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