>>does this need to be done half-assed?
well, I am an unemployed telecom engineer, so money is an issue. I was doing fine when I bought the house in 1996. I have already done everything myself including laying a new level floor and retiling the walls and floor. I can't get a plumber to even return a call, forget about moving a pipe. Yes. I know, while I was lounging around in calculus and electrical networking classes, they were getting their nails dirty putting in very elaborate and difficult toilets. The values of this country are so out of wack, but don't get me started.....
>>highest real estate markets in the country
That is part of the issue. Why would a plumber come to move a pipe 4 inches when they could work for weeks in some of these multi-million dollar mansions putting in entire bathrooms and earning big bucks. Can you blame them?
If I could rotate the cast iron pipe 90 degree's that would help, but unless the cast iron vent stack is changed out so that the inlet is the same height as the sink drain, it is really just the same config.
Anyway, I think I have an OK solution, I'm in school to become an accountant, and I will be using a "fake vent" at the highest point in the pipe. I have changed from white 90 dgree sharp turns to black "long 90's". But let's face it, we are not talking about a plane's wing or software to control a reactor here.....