with the starter not mounted to the engine block and everything hooked up to it, it works fine when i turn the ignition. then when i bolt it back on to the car and hook up the battery cables to the battery, the starter motor turns with the ignition still off. what could be the problem. for some reason it wont ground when mounted to the engine. we keep getting a direct short. any ideas?

your main battery (+) cable maybe contacting the start terminal causing it to run in the off position and insulation burned through some wiring could be shorting on the headers, exhaust or bell housing. If your battery (-) cable is bolted directly to the block ? you have a good ground.

i got it. it was a bad ground. im running a seperate ground from the starter to the body. for some reason the negative battery cable isnt grounding good enough when the starter is mounted. maybe its the spacers i had to use with my starter. but i dont think that should have done it. thanks though