LOL the saga continues. It started fine heading out to lunch. I went about 3 miles, shut it off for 20 minutes and then I just got a click. It took 6 clicks to start.

When I found the loose ground this morning it was the first one I checked and stopped when I found it was loose. I was already late for work... So tonight I'll take them all loose and clean them good. I'm also going to wire up a volt meter on the starter side of the solenoid so if it just clicks again I can see how much juice the starter is getting. Sheesh!

Well, you did say you missed working on it :-)

LOL yeah but what I miss is working on fun stuff that makes the car more interesting not chasing problems that could leave me stranded!

http://i61.tinypic.com/123tjwg.jpg

Well I guess it's a challenge anyway...

A wing? The only thing I have seen you do is autocross. You don't go fast enough in autocross for a wing to make any difference. If you have been racing that thing, you have been cheating us on videos! But, nice wing.

nah the wing is only there because it came up for 62 bucks shipped on ebay. I had to build stands and end plates for it and paint it but that's the good kind of work! It's a copy of a APR GTC 200 but I have no illusions if it being anything but bling. I put it on the a car show and photo opps but that's about it.
http://i60.tinypic.com/2rwvwrb.jpg

It's a funny thing because I would see this and think it was rice city if it didn't have the nuts to back it up!
http://i60.tinypic.com/316ays4.jpg

I've tried everything including adding a 2nd battery with separate cables to the starter and chassis. The car ran for the last 10,000 miles with out ever missing a start and now both the factory GM starter with 60,000 miles on it and the new one do the exact same thing.

Listen to this video and see what you think. The volt meter on the starter side of the solenoid and half way though the video it starts and you can see it jump with power.

So I can't figure out why the solenoid would only let a volt and a half through most of the time but sometimes full power. On both the factory and new solenoids.

That is the EXACT SAME issue as with my stump grinder. Have you inspected the ignition switch? I recall my Miata having an issue like that after it sat during transformation. A shot of W/D 40 in the ignition switch cleaned & lubed the contacts. Presto! No more issues. Hey, maybe I will try this on my grinder.

After sleeping on it I keep coming back to grounds. I don't know how the starter could possibly not be grounded to the block or the block to the chassis but I'm going to take that out of the loop by running a ground cable from the starter to the battery to be sure. What's another 10 feet of welding cable after 125 bucks and 15 hours of messing around anyway....

I agree with tbone. If you have ruled out the starter and the solenoid, I would look at the ignition switch. Did you test the switch side of the solenoid to see if the power level coming to it is low also?

No I didn't but I did jump it with a screw driver and it just clunked too. I figured since the solenoid is firing with a good hard clunk it is getting what it needs and doing what it's suppose to do.

What bugs me is I should be seeing 12v on the starter side of the solenoid even when it just clunks. Even if the ground was not good enough to complete the circuit and turn the starter my meter is grounded to the battery lug so it should see 12V. It has to be that solenoid.

You didn't read the article. The solenoid will clunk with less than the needed voltage to run the starter. The problem may be before the solenoid (the switch). See what voltage it is getting on the switch side of the solenoid before you assume it is getting what it needs.

No I read it and that's what prompted me to add a 2nd battery with separate cables to it to be double dog sure I am getting good B+ and ground directly to the starter. But you are right I have not put the meter on the B+ or the trigger wire while turning the key to prove it.

The switch would make sense to why both starters do the same thing so I'm going to (finally) measure the trigger tonight and see what I have. Easy to do I just figured the screw driver sorted that out but it's really not a good test. Next step a start button!

Thanks Wolf!