starting

I had to change an end that broke off cable as well, does it have to be brass?

It could be either. If it is fuel it is easy to check. Listen to the fuel pump when you turn the key. You should have ac and radio off and fan off. Listen for the pump priming sound for a few seconds. If you hear that then the pump is most likely good. It means the pump is at least partially working. It might still not be fully working as the fuel pressure could still be low if the pump is failing or there is a restricting somewhere in the fuel delivery system. These car are known to have electrical issues and lots of corrosion in wiring so I think that is where you problem lies. Have the electrical system check out by a shop good with electrical not just any shop. If you are handy you can just get parts on eBay or Amazon and change out all the electrical wiring. You can test the wiring by doing a drop test or resistance test on the wiring. I replace all the wiring on my system for not much money in parts and all is good. It would cost the same just to have someone else look at it and charge triple for parts and not even including the labor to fix it. But then I am handy and not sure knowledgeable about cars. Here is the part numbers ACDelco 4SD41XT and ACDelco 4SD28XE