I'm a novice do it myselfer and maybe that's my first problem. I like the challenge but sometimes get in over my head. I'm checking here for solutions before giving the ol' mechanic a call.

I have a 1994 Grandam GT w/the 2.3l I-4 engine. It had a major overhaul about 5 years ago at 110,000 miles. It currently has 135,000 miles. I noticed about 6 months ago that when trying to start the engine the starter sounded sluggish while turning the engine over befire it fired. I figured it was the battery and the cold combination that was causing that. One day in the driveway it wouldn't start. I put in a new battery and it started fine. Over the next month or so it started to exhibit the same symptoms of sluggish starting even on warmer days. I decided that the starter, solenoid or both was probably done. So I switched out the old one and put in a new one. I hooked everything back up and went to start the engine and heard a click which sounded briefly like the starter starting and then the whole car, electrically, went dead completely. Over the next couple weeks I fooled with wires making sure all connections were solid and cleaned the battery terminals and I got power back. I went to start it again and as soon as I pushed the clutch pedal in and it hit the sensor the car went dead again. Same thing happened today when I cleaned the terminals some more and got power back. I pushed the clutch pedal in this time and the power remained on but when I turned the key, it went dead again. It's acting like a curcuit breaker is being tripped but comes back on itself eventually. I can't clean the battery terminals anymore, they're as clean as they'll get.

Any ideas? Or things I need to clarify?