Sigh...
Well, here I went and stuck my foot in my mouth again.
I've got the passenger side header off, and was about to start removing the starter. That's when I noticed that the nut holding the hot wire from the battery to the solenoid was only barely finger tight. Damn.... I had read a bunch of warnings about not over tightening those nuts, and I guess I just went too easy on the wrench fearing I would snap the solenoid studs. I guess the nut was just tight enough to carry enough current to click the solenoid, but nothing else. I actually had Connie look down at those terminals while I tried to start it to look for a spark that would indicate a loose connection, but she didn't see anything. Maybe it wasn't quite THAT loose, just loose enough to be a pain in the butt. Sheesh....
And of course I have a new MSD starter on the way from Summit Racing as I write this.
Ah well, I think I would have had to do everything I did today anyway to get to those nuts to tighten down. I might have been able to get a wrench down there without removing anything, but it would have been pretty close to magic to do it. Replacing a starter and just tightening the nuts on the solenoid studs requires just about as much work on my car. THIS time around I am going to use the torque specs I just found!
Live and learn I guess. Poor Connie has been scared to death that she broke my engine.
Oh well, it looks like I still had an exhaust leak anyway, so just as well I pulled the exhaust down. Not that I wouldn't have rathered be doing something else today.