[red_bumblebee]

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies, I've made a list of everything I'm going to try, starting with better grounds from battery to somewhere else on the head and a better ground for the starter.

If it helps with diagnosing online, when it gets hot it will very slowly turn the starter, making a RR ......................RR......................RR and then sometimes it won't crank anymore at all (that was with the old battery, I haven't tried to crank it for a long time when it's been hot with the new battery yet.)

I used one of those mini battery pack jump starter things once and it seemed to crank more easily, but it still cranked very slowly. It did sound like the battery was dead. I let it cool down and then with the batter jump pack it cranked like a good battery.

Initial idle timing looked to be around 6 degrees or less when I checked the other day.

I'll check the ignition switch as well but the backdrive linkages have been removed and the lockout switch is now with a B&M shifter. The ignition switches a relay which powers the solenoid so I would think that it ok, but I'll check the original solenoid wire as it is 43 years old and has multiple connections in it where its been cut and spliced previously.