Maybe once or twice a day can I get the starter to engage and start the car. The starting procedure is to push in the clutch, turn the key to the start position and flip the shifter in and out of gear. It has only started in third.

There is no solinoid click, but the idiot lights apear to dim a little bit when turning the key to the start position.

The battery and the cables are good. The voltmeter dosen't register. It has a clifford alarm with an inline fuse removed.

I just bought this street ported, holly 4 barell, rb exhaust ,84 gsl-se and want to make it reliable enough to drive.

WTF?

 

When you say the cables are "good", do mean new, or recently new? Any 20+ yr old car can have a lot of electrical issues caused by bat. cables that "look" OK but are corroded somewhere inside. Unless you KNOW they've been replaced recently, that would be a good place to start. And the connections at the starter? clean? tight? The neg ground cable tight at the various spots it mounts (3 in my 80 RX)? Pull the starter and take it to an auto-electric shop. They will bench test it, likely for free. Just 2 bolts to remove, piece of cake: BUT remember how the wires all attach (I always draw myself a picture, or a digital snap)!!
Stu Aull
80 GS
Alaska

 

Do you have jumper leads?

pull the starter, hookup the jumper leads to battery, and tap them on the terminals of the starter (you will need to connect the ignition terminal to the positive as well). If it spins, then you have a problem in the leads between your bettery and starter.

I recently had a similar problem. Sometimes it would click, others it wouldnt, but it never turned over. Turned out the thread on the positive terminal on the starter had been stripped and the cable wasnt getting enough contact. Starters eat a tonne of current, so need excellent contact.

Good luck,

Paul.