At 12:47 AM 12/8/2010, brett rueff wrote:
>- I thought it might be the bushing - it looked pretty dry and the
>end of the starter shaft is a little scored.  As a test I threw some
>grease in there, reassembled (I can remove/replace starter in about
>5 minutes now!) and thought if there was binding some fresh grease
>might temporarily smooth it out to confirm the theory...alas - no change.
>- Finally I took a known good battery under the car and used jumper
>leads to put 12V directly to starter - its still anemic.
>With the 12V directly on the starter and still very slow crank all I
>can think of is its the starter despite its passing test at the FLAPS....

I think the bushing is in bad shape -- in this picture it looks
thinned out on the left side, and all those chips came from somewhere
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55896090@N04/5242491575/in/photostream/

But hie thee to an automotive electrics shop with your starter and
have them put it on the growler.  That will tell you if there are
shorted turns in the armature, which at this point I rather suspect.

Yours,
David