So I was sitting around at the rotorshop reading a magazine and the guy walks in... "Slight electrical problem.... Shorted out alternator against intake"

So sure enough the alternator (which had about 3mm clearance) had been moved against the intake when it was being removed, and they hadn't disconnected the battery hehe.

I have a 70amp lead running direct from battery to alternator. Well that melted almost instantly and left a huge mess of little wires in my engine bay, with a little melt-damage to the dizzy cap and casing and other wires.

Exhibit 1. The remnants of the 70amp charging lead:


I inspected my earths and they seemed to be fine - I have run extra earths so the weakness in the system was this 70 amp lead - I have in excess of 300amps of earthlead to the engine block.

In the below pics the wire has been replaced, but you can see the damage caused from the earlier one melting.



This one has melted wires into the casing and I cant remove them:




And the final result:


A double alternator pulley(just need to pickup a second belt)... minor damage to minor parts... more clearance with the intake now (ground back) and a cut-down bill because of the messup - literally paid about USD$10 for 4-5 hours work :P.

 

I'm not to be nosey, but what work did you have done?

 

I was having a double pulley put on the alternator, a 3" resonator in the exhaust, some extra OMP lines, welsh plug removed from thermostat and a gasket on the thermostat housing put in. Whole exhaust lifted giving 12.5 cm clearance now too