Need help with shorted wire on 69 Impala

[JustJohn]

Nearly done with the 5 speed swap on my car and was isolating the backup lamp wire on the steering column (ignition on) when I noticed smoke at the fire wall. Somehow, I have a shorted wire. Can someone identify what this is to help me figure out what's going on? I haven't done any extra wiring on this car and the only component I had to disconnect was the starter.



I have been cleaning out the rat's nest of aftermarket stereo wires but it shouldn't have an effect on this. Anyway, here's the picture. The bundle is a blue, purple and white glass insulated wire. It's the glass insulated wire that is getting hot.

[JustJohn]

Anyone?

[130fe]

Most of the GM's of that era use standard colored wiring. I bet these are the ones-
Dark blue = oil pressure switch
Purple = solenoid S terminal (starter crank) from clutch switch.
White cloth = ignition resistive wire to + terminal on coil.
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[JustJohn]

You are correct. Now that I think about it, I have not hooked the distributor wires back up since reinstalling it (converted to HEI). Probably, I have a dangling wire shorting to the block.