[mr48chev]

OK you said you had an HEI. WHAT hei do you have? GM converted to run in the GMC or an aft?

Has the truck been converted to an alternator"

Show us a photo of the side of the engine showing the distributor and wiring to it or what is left of it.

Show us photos of the left side of the engine (compartment) showing the red wire and where it goes.

To me that looks like the one of the wires shorted out on somthing or was hooked to a ground causing a short when you turned the key on. Shorts under the dash of an early Chevy/GMC truck can happen any place a wire passes over the edge of a sheetmetal piece. Usually under the dash. Most often because it rubbed.

To me that red wire has absolutely no possible reason to be connected to that side of the resistor. The only wire that should connect there except the wire to the coil is the resistor bypass wire from the solenoid. Nothing on the truck has a reason to be connected there except those two things. I'm thinking someone got lazy and connected a wire to the alernator or regulator there rather than where it should have been connected and then it was connected on the wrong side of the resistor.

Going back to your first post, Resistors ALWAYS GET HOT because they provide a resistance just as the element in an electric heater does. Basically they are a heating element.

Secondly, unless you have some off the wall aftermarket "HEI" rather than a converted GM HEI you shouldn't need a resistor at all. That is the first thing in instructions for converting to HEI = do not use a resistor.

Disconnect and tuck that red wire out of the way, It has no business being there and you can figure out what it was supposed to be doing later and connect it to the correct spot then. The correct spot is most likely a junction block or the back of the ignition switch.

Show us those photos of the distrbutor side of the engine and the wiring from the solenoid/starter and the left side of the engine hopefully showing where that red wire goes.