Well, I had my starter rebuilt today, $125; slightly cheaper than a new,
factory rebuilt one.  Brownings Alternator Service did the job; they have a
good reputation here in the Tidewater region of Virginia.  Anyway, taking off
the starter and putting it back on really wasn't a big deal; however, every
time the phone rang, I expected it to be Brownings calling to tell me it was
shot to hell and couldn't be rebuilt.  They ended up doing the job in about 2
hours; even painted the damn thing!  I know its mine because it has the scars
where I had hit it with a pipe wrench to try and activate the selonoid.  They
replaced the selonoid entirely with a Bosch one, and put new brushes in the
starter.  One of the brushes had fallen off inside the starter (that explains
the slow, 3 to 4 second, starting time).  Appearently the selonoid switch was
bad.  Now when the glow plug light goes off and I turn the key, the engine
goes from not running to running instantly; the starter now  turns the engine
MUCH faster.  I think it must have been a bum-starter to begin with.