Following everyones good advice about replacing battery cables and cleaning contacts and such, I found the problem. An ignition wire(black/yellow)so badly corroded it broke in half! Looking at the starter through the engine compartment the wire looked fine.
I don't know why I didn't notice it before. I did a quick splice to see if it would work, and she started right up! Learned a valuable lesson to exhaust ALL possibilities before deciding on a course of action. Mainly shelling out money for another over priced part!
Thank you everyone for your help.
Vladu

 

Good work, Cowboy...
See yuh on the trail.....

Denny, from the corncrib...