harness fire...

so updates....

i had completely unwrapped the dash side harness and checked for melts/shorts in the system. no sign of damage (other than the fried amp gauge wire i replaced) then i wrapped it all back up. I havent been in the ignition column yet though...

i also bypassed the factory power entry points through the connectors in the firewall. I ran power like in the link to the mad elec guys page... Independent 8gauge power cable from the battery with an inline agu fuse. I spliced it to the "top" side of the main power distribution in the dash (black wire going into amp gauge). Then I spliced into the bottom side lead that heads out the firewall to the alternator. I put the slice on the dash side and ran another dedicated power line to the same fuse going back to the battery. Then I ran a direct 8 gauge power cable from the positive terminal on the battery to the output stud on the alternator.
system now looks like this...

http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/images/amp-ga27.jpg

According to theory this should all be fine and dandy, no more amp gauge in the dash and new, heavy, fused lines handling the power transfer... except...

I cranked it over a couple times, pump gas, didnt start, let off...
cranked it again a couple times, started running and i saw sparks coming from the alternator for a moment. I have no clue why??? could a shorted alternator perhaps have caused the fuselink to burn up, causing my harness fire initially???

I also noticed it still wouldnt stay running with the key in the run position, only while cranking in start position... Just put a new ballast in...

So im currently at... why the sparks from the alt???
and, is there a short/malfunction in the ignition column???

any thoughts would be greatly appreciated guys...thanx.