Starter relay

[White hawk]

I was wonderinf if a starter relay was hooked up wrong. Would it short out the alternator?

[4.3LXJ]

Unless the hot wire has gone to ground on it, that is the one on the large post, no. The most common way to short out an alternator is hooking up jumper cables backwards

[White hawk]

Well I know they shorted the b+ cable on the relay too ground at the same time while connected to the relay.

Well when I got it the wiring was all wrong on the relay. They had the black/trace ground to the ignition spade. The ignition spade was ground. I wonder if that would mess my gauges up. Hmmm

[4.3LXJ]

That shouldn't mess them up. You can switch those wired and nothing will happen. They go to the coil inside. Current can go either direction and it will be OK