164LS Exhaust Repair/Help my Spitfire's electrics!

[Ar164super@domain.elided]

Hi Everyone,

I'm back on the list after a one-month hiatus (we'll just say that I'm now 
another SF Bay area ex-dot.com person...enough said).
My 164LS has recently gotten much noisier (a blessing and a curse; it's loud, 
but it sounds good!). At my last oil change, I noticed that the flexible pipe 
that connects the headers to the cat was looking somewhat frayed. My guess is 
that this is the faulty component. Since this is a flexible piece, does 
anyone know if there is an appropriate substitute readily available out 
there, or does this require a trip to the dealer for the part? It seems to me 
that as long as I find a piece with the same dimensions, it should be easy to 
fit.

Now for some non-Alfa content...I've been doing quite a bit of work lately to 
my newly acquired '70 Triumph Spitfire Mk3 (if you'd like, pretend that it's 
a Giulietta Spider...I certainly do sometimes). Recently, I attempted to 
install a 30A ammeter. I connected it as follows: 1) Removed all wires from 
top starter solenoid terminal except wire from the battery; 2) (+) terminal 
on ammeter wired with 10ga wire to the top solenoid terminal with the wire 
from the battery still attached; 3) (-) terminal on ammeter wired with 10ga 
wire to the other wires removed from the top solenoid terminal (my 
understanding is that these go to the fuse box and LT coil leads???) . So 
basically it is wired so that the ammeter completes the circuit between the 
battery and the wires removed from the starter solenoid terminal, hence 
measuring the current flow of everything but the starter.
Now here's where it all goes bad. I tried testing it by starting the car. 1st 
time, "click" like you get when your battery is dead and the solenoid can't 
activate the starter. 2nd time, same thing. 3rd time (don't ask me why so 
many times), nothing. Nothing! As if I'd removed the negative cable to the 
battery. There was no electricity at all. I disconnected the ammeter and 
wired everything back as it was before. Still nothing. So I'm thinking I 
must've wired something incorrectly and blown something in the electrical 
system; perhaps the voltage regulator, ignition switch, starter solenoid, or 
battery? Can anyone offer any insight? I'm a bit perplexed and frustrated!

Thanks!

Adam
'94 164LS (noisy)
'70 Triumph Spitfire Mk3 (silent)

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