Here is a pic of my solenoid installation. What it doesn't show is I added a ground wire from behind the mounting base to the inside of the fender well. Also the solid RED wire has replaced the ORIG RED with BLUE stripe you see in the photo. The big RED wire goes to my dump motor.
Not sure if this will help or not. At the time of my orig occurrence I replaced the ground wire and the pos wire. You might want to check the resistance of those wires.
STARTER SOLENOID PIC:

 

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Thanks, unofornaio! My setup is slightly different as the I on my solenoid is to be left empty.

 

Removed the negative cable yesterday. Noticed wire coating was degraded and bare wire was touching the vehicles frame where the cable was mounted. Haven't gotten the new cable yet, but my guess is that was causing a big problem.

 

Ground is ground...
Bare wire is not a problem, but corrosion is.

Check the starter cable from the solenoid. If that's rubbing you will overload the solenoid and the other symptoms you seem to have.

 

Yeah, the negative cable can touch the frame all it wants; in fact, that's its job. But if that cable from solenoid to starter is doing that, yeah, THAT is a problem that will cause your symptoms...

 

I kind of thought that, but am grasping at straws to figure this out. Cable from solenoid switch to stater is fine. Still scratching my head.

 

Have you performed a voltage drop test across the cables and grounds? (If they are OEM from 1985 skip this step and just replace all of them)

 

X 1, 000
Much cheaper than cooking a starter or a dozen solenoids.

The starter is always going to draw x-watts. If the voltage is not getting through the amperage is going to be immense.

 

Thanks to a lot of folks, but especially ctubutis! Found the problem, took care of it, and started my rebuilt 302 today. It's got a nice set of chrome headers on it from Flowtech. And I don't quite have the muffler attached yet. lol

Yeah, baby! This baby makes some beautiful noise!! It's never run this smooth!! Total rebuild that I did myself. Hot dipped, new lifters, rings, valves were reseated, and a nice paint job. And no leaks!!! I'll send pics when I have a chance.

Want to drive it now, but without the muffler I'd be pulled over in a heartbeat. lol

Can't wait till it comes!!!

 

What was the problem? All this suspense and drama but with no indication as to what the actual problem was isn't real fulfilling....

 

It was a bad connection and one of the fusible links was a mess. Replaced it an viola!