Ever since I bought my 74-454, I've had my fair share of problems. In my estimation at least half were caused by careless mechanics whom I've had to find, use and sort through, because I'm don't have the time,space, or the mechanical ability to do the work.   I have spared no expense in my attempts to make my car as nice looking and as reliable as possible. After all I do want to enjoy driving it. Thankfully I have a real good friend Mustang Sally ( I call him that because he owns a Stang) who has help me immensely, but you can only impose so much, and you guys, who have provided me with a wealth of knowledge. Anyway, ! I thought I was close to getting the car in the shape that I wanted. Don't get me wrong it's not going to win, or earn any NCRS, Bloomington Gold, or any other Corvette Holly Grail.  (I would have thought so for the money I've put into in) BTW, Joel's 74 has been my inspiration. This past winter I had the engine worked on (now it runs, and burns more gas) I was in heaven, my next plan was rims, tires, and hopefully a paint job next year. But, it wasn't meant to be. Last week I took it out for the first cruise night of the season,I had a great time, and got a trophy too . Then this week I ordered the rims and tires that I wanted. Yesterday, I went to prep the car for a corvette show being held today, the car won't start . The battery which is a one year old Optima red top was . Needless to say I wasn't too happy, The starter, cables and anything else that effects the starting of the car is less that 18 months old. So I take the battery out and leave it to get charged. I go home to get some tools and there sitting in my driveway are my new rims    so now things don't seem to bad. I still have to figure out why the battery died, but I got my rims. Then as luck would have it, I noticed that each box is worn by the edge of the rim rubbing through  All of the edges are chipped & dinged  .  I call Jeggs and they can't replace until late next week (Fed-Ex who made the delivery, can't P/U until Tues.)  I call Fed-Ex to get an explanation as to why they left damaged packages, and didn't have anyone sign for then. Unfortunately Saboo, didn't understand American quality control. So now I'll wait. Be patient it gets worse. I PU the battery, put it in and take for a ride. I wanted to come back and check to see what killed the battery. During my ride, I noticed a slight popping out of carb/exhaust  I get home and call Mustang Sally, he'll be back in an hour. So I start checking around and everything seems OK. MS calls me back and tells me to come over his house and he'll check it out, what a pal  . As I pull up toward his house, there's a big party at Ten 15's brother in laws house. So now we lift the hood Tom starts checking the timing, there's now at least 5 professional mechanics around my car, boy I'm in heaven   Then it happened, all hell broke loose,  smoke started to bellow out of the right side of my engine  and all I hear is someone yell FIRE, FIRE, WE HAVE A FIRE ! All I remember is everyone was running around throwing water, and other forms of liquid at my car while Sally looked for a fire extinguisher. Needless to say all the party goers were now spectators. The fire was put out  and the damage was not bad. The starter wire which was left loose by the mechanic who worked on it last, arched and touched the headers, I have to replace starter wire (batt. cable) repair wire harness (Sally did this last night ) replace solenoid, we'll do that today with Sally

So there you have it, It could have been worse, depending on how you look at it. I was supposed to go to a show last night and one for today. If this had happened on the highway instead of Tom's house (Sally,s )  My care would have been totaled. I would have collected my insurance (Just about brake even) and either bought a 2007 Mustang GT 500, or a 2002-04 Z06 !

Welcome to our world, 'bird!!!
One step forward...two steps back!! Eventually, tho, we all make forward progress, as we find/correct the little, piddly crap that tends to ruin our day. It's the love of Corvettes, especially our own, that keeps us going. A lot of folks give up, and move on. The real 'Vette heads perservere(?), and you, my friend, are one of us!!
Sorry to hear about the damaged rims. I can't tell ya how many times I've had the same problem with shippers. Hope they get that mess worked out for ya.
It's good there was no major damaged done with the batt. cable fire!! "Fire BAD!!!" I can feel the heart sinking all the way down here!! You do have an Angel watching over you!!

btw....maybe using my '74 for inspiration is a jinx!!!
Thanks for that, anyway!

Who knew that you could use windex to put out a fire!!!

Ya learn something new every day.........

FYI..........Everyone should have a fire extinguisher in their garage & another in the car.

Well today was round 2 trying to fix the problem with the burnt wires. Between Ten 15 and Mustang Sally we thought the job was done, as luck would have it there was a crossed wire which took until after PM to fix. Unfortunately, while driving it home it didn't seem to be charging and by the time I got home it stalled and died out  . Right now I don't know if the Alt went bad or did the short damage a fuse link. I have no idea, but this sucks the big one ! 

See if there is battery power at the batt terminal of the alternator.  If not, it's a blown fuseable link.   There are two of them, and the other is okay or the car would not have started.

They both connect to the starter at the battery cable.  It's those red wires.

Fuse link 1 Driver's side, by washer bottle

Fuse link 2 Pass. side, by wiper motor

There are at least two more down by the starter...I seem to have deleted the pics I had of them!!

Thanks guys,

I'm almost positive Tom/Sally & Ten 15 checked it out. I'm wondering if by the starter shorting out on the heat shield, could that have caused the Alt. to somehow be damaged ?  When the stalled out and I tried to start it, there was not even enough juice to make the battery click. But there was enough juice to make the horn blow, electric radiator fans to come on etc,  

Both of the fused links that Joel mentioned checked out OK.  There were no fused links on the starter before the wire shorted. 

As for the charging issue:         The amp gauge stayed in the negative, but it did show less levels of draw depending on what was shut off.

The original problem (cause of the fire) was a loose battery cable to the starter.  The arc it caused nearly melted through the starter heat shield.  I'm not sure if ths could have affected the alternator, but it's my guess that a diode may have popped.  My alternator acted the same until I replaced the external voltage regulator.

Cookie.......Have your guy test the wires, then try an alternator swap.

 

Anthony