heres the deal. when i turn the key (73 1.7) the starter will only turn intermittently, other times dead silence car has full power headlights,wipers radio, 12volts on the meter, i can hear the fuel pump, can push start it every time. is it just the ignition switch, which is original, loose and very flaky or am i in for an electrical gremlin adventure?

Replace the switch.

Take it out and look at it .... If they have a crack, you'll get everything but start. If they have a big crack, sometimes you get nuthin'.

You could also plug a VOM into the yellow wire going to the solenoid .... have someone turn the key to start and see if you're getting 12VDC.

I connected the yellow wires together under the passenger seat and my problems were solved! I had the same problem.

The two big yellow wires were the starter interlock .... relay (under pass seat) wouldn't close to allow start when weight was in the seat unless seat belt was fastened .... yada yada .... thought it was a '74 only Federal thing to protect ourselves from ourselves.

o.k ordered a new ignition switch setup. replacing the entire thing. will be nice to have new keys. now exactly how is this done?

I have a 73 and had the same trouble, on an off chance I spliced those two yellow wires together and now I have sparks so you might want to try that. Sadly other issues are keeping my car off the road

Not present in my 73

Just for clarification, connecting those won't start. IF you add 12 volts to those spliced wires the starter will turn over. I put a starter button in my car (because I didn't want to buy a new switch) that powers the yellow wire to engage the starter.