SUCCESS!!
After several sleepless nights and lots of hair pulling, I finally found the short. It may not make sense to most, but it was the battery cable itself that was shorting out. About 6" from the starter, there was a dark spot on the cable that must have either been crushed or burnt at one time or another, and it would allow enough voltage to pass through to run the lights, but when the higher demand of the starter was placed on it, it showed as a dead short. I must have moved it just enough to cause the problem when I changed out the cable ends. Been a learning experience, and I want to take a moment to tell everyone thanks for the help and encouragement in getting the ol' gal back up and running. Hope next time she decides to misbehave it's something a lot easier to deal with. Thanks again.
Tramp
