AaronDavis

Okay, there is no negative lead on a starter; the housing is the ground. There's the big one the cable goes on from the battery, the little one that pulls the "washer," or however you want to think about it, in the solenoid over; and on some starters there's another big post that is the output of the solenoid to the starter motor. If you jump the battery post to the little post, you then "magnetize" the solenoid, which pulls the "washer" inside the solenoid over, creating a connection from the battery to the starter motor.
That's the basics of a starter, LOL.

Now that you said that you jumped it, and pop started it and banged it around; it sounds like a loose connection or bad cable. Do you know how to do an voltage drop test and an amperage draw test? To me, it sounds like a problem I had with a positive cable one time. I think you can YouTube how to do these test with a somewhat basic DMM, but I would only do this if you're getting close to full battery voltage to the solenoid wire when turning the key to crank and to the cable at the starter.

AaronDavis

Oh, and the alternator cable has nothing to do with this problem, a car will start with a fully charged battery and no alternator.

Bobisland

Haha, well dang, I honestly didn't know how a starter worked internally, so thank you for that. So maybe when I banged it into gear it probably knocked the "washer" thing back into place? And I got the battery checked again today, and its good, but there was a lot of "ripple" effect going on while the it was on as the guy put it. He charged it up fully, and when I cranked it it sounded like it was struggling, but it still turned on after a bit. So it must just be wiring, right? It was the stock d16 harness but honestly there was a lot of cutting, splicing, soldering and heat shrinking going on. And right on about the alternator, one less thing to worry about ha

Bobisland

Finally fixed. Although I replaced all the grounds, I completely overlooked the bracket that bolts the transmission housing to the ground wire (also has a plastic piece that holds the lower rad hose). I just sanded it down and now it starts right up. Thanks everyone who too the time to help out

TimmyD87

people were actually nice when someone asked a question... it must be Christmas!!