Hot starter ground

[detroitred]

I just got my '93 Festiva L 5 speed back after some front end damage (hood and driver's side quarter panel). It was starting and running fine. Then I noticed that the starter ground wire insulation was fried off. I traced it back to a junction, reconnected it and then it would only crank slowly but wouldn't start even with a heavy charge. Tried a truck battery and got the same result.
I got a rebuilt starter and just more of the same. With a remote start hooked up, I found that the ground was getting hot. Even with a secondary ground attached to the starter, it got hot in the 1-2 second start attempt and even saw a wisp of smoke.
Any ideas?

[packrat427]

So did you replace the starter assy ??
May want to check all the grounds to the block

The last member that had this same problem , had a bad starter , drawing too many amps and frying the wires .

[detroitred]

Thanks Packrat.
I cleaned up the assembly from another festy and ran a 10 gauge ground directly to the block. The battery showed good voltage, but since it was still under warranty I took it in and sure enough, it was deemed BAD. So I put the new one in. After all that the engine cranked fine.... but now won't start.
I put a spare rotor and cap on after I cleaned up the contact point. The timing belt is intact. The coil wire and plug wires showed zero (0) resistance. But same result.
I will check the plugs and voltage at the coil and see what's going on there.
There is one other ground wire at one of the connectors that looks suspicious, so I will check that out for continuity as well.
Any other ideas are welcomed.
Thanks again.