I looked through your original post am under the impression you have installed a new NAPA battery so the battery should not be a contributor to the problem. I assume ( I know, that’s dangerous) your problem is that starter struggles to turn the engine over fast enough to start. These are some things I would do in this situation.
1. While performing the tests described below it would be advantageous to disable the ignition system so the engine does not start. We are really trying to validate the operation of the starter, battery, and respective circuits so we don’t really want the engine to start.
2. Connect a volt meter directly to the battery posts and have someone crank the engine. While the starter is engaged the voltmeter should maintain 11.6 or higher. If you just put a new battery in you really shouldn’t have to do this but do it anyway.
3. Verify your battery negative (ground) cable is attached to the engine block. Most FE’s attach to the lower front on the passenger side.
4. Check for voltage drop on the positive cables. Connect voltmeter to the positive battery post and to the positive starter cable where it attaches to the starter. Hopefully you can access the starter terminal with the voltmeter lead, if it’s really difficult it might mean connecting a jumper wire to the starter terminal and routing the jumper wire to the voltmeter lead. Have someone crank the engine and monitor the voltmeter. You Will probably see the voltmeter flicker but there shouldn’t be an actual reading. If you see 1 volt or higher where it’s steady enough to read it is an indication of voltage drop (bad connections) in the positive cables. What is expected on a properly operating system is no reading or very low reading.
5. Check for voltage drop on the negative (ground) cable. Connect voltmeter to the negative battery post and the case of the starter. Use a jumper wire as described in step 3 if access is difficult. Make sure paint on the starter case is not insulating and preventing a connection. Have someone crank the engine and monitor the voltmeter as described in step 3. Any reading that is steady enough to read is an indication of voltage drop (bad connections) in the starter ground circuit, which is essentially the engine block and ground cable.
6. If all the previous steps check out I would consider replacing the starter.
About your smoke…., if it’s a steady plume of smoke rising it could be a clue to your starting problems. Bad grounds and/or connections can certainly emit a steady plume if smoke. (If it’s not a steady plume it’s probably not from an electrical cause).
I know your problem is most apparent when the engine is warm but there could be some advantages to doing some of these tests when it is cooled off. While doing the tests be aware of your aforementioned smoke and check your various cables and connections for abnormally high temperatures. It would be normal and expected for the cables and starter to warm up as you are exercising the system, but, if you were to find a connection, cable or anything that is extremely hot, more so than all the other components that would be a red flag of a problem being present.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
One last thing, probably been mentioned already, make sure your initial timing is not advanced too much preventing it from starting when it’s warm.
