Redtop Struggles to start

[nism014]

I'm out of ideas and wanted some opinions.

Car: s14 with redtop SR (Gen1 engine & trans harness by wiring specialty)

Background: About 2 months ago, my car stopped starting reliably. Here's what it did:
. turn the key, engine bay clicks, nothing.
. turn key again and sometimes it starts.

What I replaced:
. starter
. re-did all my grounds
. new battery (battery was old)
. new denso spark plugs. (same as bkr6e)

what it fixed:
. nothing.

What next?

I'm thinking replace the ignition switch on the steering column.
anything else?

---------Edit--------------

My battery is relocated to the trunk in case it matters:
. Power wire is a 0gauge front-to-trunk with a 150amp fuse and a power block in the front
. Ground wire is a 4gauge front-to-trunk. In the engine bay, it meets with all the engine ground wires on the battery tray mount. In the trunk, I have it grounded to the side (sanded down) then to battery neg.

http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/ac340/nismo14/car/starter%20problem/block_zpsf35ab49e.jpg (http://s913.photobucket.com/user/nismo14/media/car/starter%20problem/block_zpsf35ab49e.jpg.html)
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/ac340/nismo14/car/starter%20problem/Trunk_zps42140904.jpg (http://s913.photobucket.com/user/nismo14/media/car/starter%20problem/Trunk_zps42140904.jpg.html)

[bmxer882x]

check the starter wire. its a single wire make sure its good and snug. if not put a new female connector on it.

[nism014]

I did that already, even sanded the shit out of the metal tab of the new starter.

the starter wire is pretty much new since it was put in when I replaced my entire harness about 3 years ago with the wiring specialty lower and main harness.

[nism014]

replaced ignition switch, still no go. takes a few key turns before the car struggles to start.

I'll try to bypass my signal wire tomorrow and see if I can get it to crank.

If it cranks, then I'll be really disappointed in my wiring specialty harness as it's less than 5 years old.

[indomiekid1]

you are getting fuel?

[Driftwire]

His issue is with it not cranking on first key turn.. Read issues before posting

[redcolorlook]

I replaced my entire harness about 3 years ago with the wiring specialty lower and main harness.http://goo.gl/E0iu44

[X_JON_X]

Ground your battery in the trunk too, I suspect its a grounding issue since you are limiting the system ground to a long 4 ga wire, not the whole car.

[cotbu]

Ground your battery in the trunk. There's no need to run the ground from front to back. Don't ground to strut tower or weak metal.

Sent from my Highly Tuned Galaxy S3.4!!!

[nism014]

Thanks for the input all.

Yes, once the car is started it drives like a champ. It's the reliability of starting the car that is the issue here.

My battery is grounded in the trunk but to the side as shown the picture above the left side of the battery box. Ground contact was sanded down to bare metal before I nut/bolted the ground to it.

Can anybody recommend a better ground?

I'll hot wire the starter tonight and update after I do.

Thanks again everyone for the input

[nism014]

so I can hot wire the starter and crank the car nicely by running an 8gauge wire from the starter and tap it on the battery positive.

Something's up with the lower harness or the connections in the fuse box. I'll trouble shoot this week-end and let you what I find.

Lets not blame the harness yet.

[Driftwire]

My buddy has the same issue with his car, its his ignition that has bad contacts, he just wired in a push start, but I would recommend actually fixing the issue. Im not sure how you would actually narrow it down

[nism014]

yeah troubleshooting electrical problem is a pain.

I've already narrowed down where the starter signal wire runs up to and which plug it plugs-in to by the fuse box. Now I gotta check the relay and the wires from the fuse box on.

Questions:
- Is the starter grounded through the transmission?
- Where are the grounds for the fuse box located? I'm assuming aalong side the rad-support. is that correct?

[Driftwire]

starter is grounded by being bolted to the engine/trans. Should have just the battery main power and then the 12v remote starter signal.

unsure of the fuse box grounds on s14 chassis

[TwoForDeh]

i had this EXACT same issue with my RB25 2 weeks ago. It ended up being the connection between the battery power wire to the starter where you make the cluster fuck of connections when you relocate the battery to the truck. That actual connection wasn't soldered correctly by the PO so it was loose. If i had someone squeeze the connection it would be fine. Definitely worth checking out if you're still having problems homie