The lesson here is that you can have a tiny strand of wire connecting something which will be enough to give a low resistance reading, but it will never carry enough current through the bad connection to run a high amp component like a starter. That's why connections have to be visually inspected even after a good continuity test.

 

Yes, thanks again for all the help and diagrams. My bad for measuring the ground resistance between the starter case and frame ground, but not looking for an actual ground strap. (what I now realize the advice in that first response was pointing out) Painful lesson that cost many days of stress and lots of h/w. But...now I can watch the big game and relax.
Thx.

 

Learned this tidbit eons ago on my old '79 Chev. s/w. Was fighting cranking issues. Figured it out one afternoon in the parts-house parking lot. Wouldn't crank (hood was up), was frustrated and I just held the ignition in start and laid my head on steering wheel. Soon I smelled burning plastic and heard crackling, looked up and saw smoke rising from battery. The wee (16-14 ga.) ground off the batt was toast. Large gauge neg. was cool as a cucumber. Bad connection. Never forgot it.
I've even found where in the middle of a battery cable there was a nick in the insulation and they were corroded on the inside.