Not gonna mess with the terminals. The flexible buss would easily work. Four cells out 16 were like this and the seller replaced them immediately and didn’t want them back. They don’t leak, no swelling, the internal resistance is the same at .19 and the voltage is identical to all the rest. Don’t know if I’d trust them until they had many cycles. I may just make another 12V battery but this time not for a trolling battery but a portable 115V power supply. I’ll keep it outside in the shed.
Funny you mention this, because when it arrived the box was upside down and the buss bar packet was between the terminals and open. I have no clue how they didn’t short. Pure luck. When I lifted the busses out of harms way it reminded me of that game “Operation”, just no buzzer lurking, something worse.
Sorry but Its hard to see why something like this can't be solved... I dont' think you'll break the terminals I think the metal is soft enough to where you'll be able to bend it.
But hey I understand you wouldn't want to ruin a cell either.