Ford Repair: Starting, ford crown vic, starter solenoid

Question
87 Ford, Crown Vic, 5.0
Would not start. Turned the key & got a click.
Felt the battery cabels & they were warm/hot epecially the neg cabel.
Battery tested ok so I pulled the starter. Tested the starter & it did not turn so I replaced it (tested the new one before installing & it worked fine). Turned the key & got the same click & noticed I got a spark on the pos cabel at the battery. Also replaced the starter relay & still get the same click/spark.
Any ideas?
Thanks, Bob

Answer
Bob:

High resistance in either battery cable and/or the starter solenoid are likely to blame for your starting concern.  The resistance in the cables should be a very low number i/e .0005 miliohms.  Based on age it would not hurt to replace the cables and the solenoid.

Hope this helps,

Sek