Getting the alt. to work, Switch to carbs wiring disaster Options

[type11969]

My 71 914 has been switched to carbs, dual 34 icts. Anyway, the PO that performed the switch hacked up the wiring to make it work. When I got the car, the alternator had no belt on it, so I've decided that having a working charging system would be nice. So the problem is that there is a big ass red wire coming up from the alternator that is cut, and there is no wire near by that looks like it should join to it. The other three wires run up to the realy board. According to a wiring diagram, that big red wire runs to the starter, and connects to the same terminal as the wire running directly from the battery. Is this correct?

Obviously the PO cut and removed this wire for a reason (there is no lead off of the stater for this wire to connect to anymore), can anything bad happen if I reconnect the wire, put on a belt, and start the car up other than I find out that I need to replace the alternator? I don't really want to start a fire.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Chris

[Ray Warren]

Yes, the big red wire from the alternator goes
to the starter with the large wire on the starter.

I just removed my alternator yesterday and had
to replace that big red wire (it was melted at the
alternator end).
It was not a pleasant job to remove the alternator.
My new one should be in tomorrow night.