I am having a weird electrical problem. I am a novice so please bare with me. The truck is a 1983 f150 4x4. I removed the original 351w and replaced with a 1986 351w HO. Everything seemed to go pretty well. However, when I went to hook up the positive side of the battery it smoked the starter solenoid. So, I thought maybe ground wasn't tight so I tightened. Changed the starter wire to the starter solenoid and changed the solenoid. Still same problem. When I disconnect the wires at the alternator it doesn't spark at the battery. I am not exactly sure how the wiring to the alternator goes but I wouldn't think it would cause such a spark from the battery. I used the alternator that was already on the original 351w which is a back terminal alternator and only has two wires. One appears to be the ground and the other is orange/red. I am a little nervous about this problem because of the sparking and really don't understand how it could be happening .. I have never experienced this sort of problem before. What could possible be wrong ? Bad alternator ? Miswired somehow/somewhere ?? Any help would be greatly appreciated..

 

So there are no problems with the alternator wires disconnected? Will it start and run with the alt wires disconnected? It can and should run without the alternator hooked up.