Thanks. To clarify, the starter went out when local member sdoolin and I were working on the other issue. I assume thats when the braided piece finally broke and ended the night early. I'm picking up one from autozone at lunch today (I know, but it will at least get me going) and putting that on. Hopefully that will sort the starter problem out. Battery is fully charged, was disconnected when pulling the starter. The massive spark came from touching the wire in question to the starter once it was back in.
As far as finding TDC, I did that, then Steve and I both did that using the fan mark, but maybe its not true? A few months back I was having a similar issue where the engine spontaneously went out of time. Maybe this has happened again, although not sure how that can happen, distributor was tight.
So, my plan now after its cranking, is to set TDC again using the fan mark then look at the valves on #1. That will should tell me for sure.
And as suggeted, I received new plugs, wires, and multimeter yesterday and I think have distributor cap in the basement. Will put all of those on one at a time and test.
Not giving up, I will solve this.
QUOTE(Tdskip @ Dec 6 2018, 09:40 AM)
Some cars just don't like being woken up and put into use, but there are a finite number of things that they need to be usable. Think of it this way, if it helps Eric, you are doing all the things to sort her out for a nice long stretch of driving fun. Keep pressing on.
If you come across a system / component you aren't familiar with it may be a good idea to ask. Everyone is a new wrench, or new to wrenching on these cars, at some point and the people here have been extremely encouraging and patient with me when I ask basic questions. Let's try to make sure we don't create any more issues for you to sort out if you are guessing as to how a component works.
As the guys have said a local rebuilder can turn that around quickly, or a replacement can be had quickly.
Make sure the battery is disconnected before replacing a starter, and now is a good time to make sure the battery is on a trickle charger so it is fresh/strong when it is ready to be used again.
Assuming that your not-running issues still exists it is probably a good idea to have replacement plug wires and cap and rotor on hand as well, you can always return them if not needed.
Carlos made a good suggestion about a multimeter, make sure to have a decent one available.
How about if we get the starter sorted out and then we try to tackle the running issue?