removed all of my ground straps and cleaned/sanded the connections. Removed the braided engine to frame strap and cleaned it out.
tried starting the car. no dice.

ok so i decided to test my OLD glow plugs

(i should have looked up this info, tested my glow plugs and THEN order new ones if i needed them but instead i just figured i would throw money at it and everything would be fine. of course that didn't work)

all of the old glow plugs ohmed fine and then i decided to hook them up with some wire straight to my battery and sure enough each one of them turned bright red at the tips. (guess i didn't need new glow plugs)

with the #1 injector out i removed the new glow plug that wasnt heating up bright red and put in one of the old ones i had just tested. sure enough it turned bright red. so i pulled all of the new glow plugs and put the old ones that i know are working correctly back in.

i tried to start the car but it cranked over slower then i have ever heard before, but i figured that after all of this glowing and cranking with out ever getting the car running to charge the battery the battery was probably way low. voltmeter put the battery at 11.6 V so i put my battery charger on it.

~6-8 hours later the battery charger said the battery was charged. volt meter said 13.3 V.

moment of truth: charged battery and the car had been sitting cold for most of the day. Sure enough she started up with no problems! shut her down and check the battery 12.87 V.

Next morning woke up checked the battery again thinking i might have a fault somewhere draining my battery overnight. 12.96 no fault i guess. Started up the car with no trouble at all!

At this point i intend to run it around town for a couple days making sure nothing else presents it's self but then it's the open road for us!

(by the way i tested the glow plug that was in #1 and wouldnt heat up enoguh. when i did, the base (not the tip) started glowing bright red for a second then it BURST IN FLAMES!!! not joking. wtf is up with that?!?!?)

thanks for all the help everyone wish me luck/tell me what you think