Just saw your post and saw you were saying "newbie mechanic".....Do you know that you need a starter? The early delco units were among the most reliable,long lasting,starters ever made. Just thought you should hear that before throwing cash in the air. Dan
Actually been wrenching on cars for a while now, but compared to you guys, I'm certainly a newbie.....haven't done it much lately (daily driver is an Electric Vehicle, so haven't done any real car work since I bought that!!)
Symptoms: intermittent crank from the key. Started a few months ago, very infrequently. Progressively got worse, until it was more no crank than crank. Battery good, grounds look good. Just no crank, and lights on the dash don't dim like they usually do when the key is turned. Jacked the car up and checked connections on the starter, looked good. Tried the ol' "hammer on the starter" trick, and she cranked right over. Tried again, nothing. Hammer on the starter again, cranked.
Plan to be under the car again this weekend to mess with it some more. Thanks for the hints on the distributor....also saw on some other forums to be careful of breaking the fan shroud (I have A/C) and pulling the heater hoses out of the heater core.