Thanks for the replies! Sorry it's taken me a while to get back to you. It seems as though the issue was indeed a ground problem. I removed the neg cable from the block as you suggested, cleaned up that connection (which really didn't look bad at all) and I have power again. That seems to have done the trick however I have another issue...
To answer your question about the starter...the solenoid went bad. The starter looked like an original/refurb. I bought a Powermaster PWM-3655 from Summit. A tooth broke off the bendex on the first startup so they warrantied it and sent me another one. I don't know if it's safe to assume the starters are identical in size and dimensions but I used the same shims from the original starter I was replacing. Once I resolved the ground issue mentioned above I was able to attempt to start the vehicle with the second Powermaster starter installed. The first turn of the key turned the motor nicely. It's been sitting so it didn't fire right up as I needed to get fuel pumped to the carb. On the second and third attempts I started hearing a grinding noise. I though maybe the bendex gear wasn't spaced correctly with the flywheel so I dropped under the car to take a look. Everything appeared fine. I tried to start the car again, heard the same noise and, again checked on it and found the half-dome of metal that covers the bendex had broken into three pieces. So, at this point I'm trying to understand what the hell is going on. Did Powermaster have a bad run of starters??? I noticed the metal from the first Powermaster starter's tooth looks like cheap pot metal/white metal...whatever you want to call it. The same with the dome cap of the second starter....the metal looks cheap. What could have been the grinding noise??
Everything is so tight it's really hard to do anything more than visually check to see that the bendex gear and the flywheel are spaced correctly. I'm hesitant to get a third starter of the same model. I've already called Summit and they are going to warranty the second starter as well. That makes me very happy to hear!
Any recommendations for a good starter? It's such a pain getting the starter in and out..I have to loosen the headers at the block and further down the line on the exhaust just to get it out since it pinches against the oil pan. I think I've read about people putting the solenoid up by the battery...is that something worth considering?
