Thought about this last night while pouring over some shop manuals etc...

Brain storm was...Hey... theres a lot of V8 Chevrolets that came with 37 amp alternators, even some Vettes!

The old chrome alternator was a no name.... in fact it had nothing on the case not even its rating... which was my fatal flaw...

Got a new 63 amp yesterday and I was watching my Sears diognostic box... it hit 63 amps... since battery was low.. and POW thats when I got the dash smoke...

So today swapped it at AutoZone for a 37 Amp alternator.

Good news is that I got the coupe started and no dash smoke... all seemed fine.... voltage on dash volt gauge was higher than its ever been (12.5 - 13 used to seeing it at 11-12).... when the cooling fans kicked in at their preset temp the alternator added a few more amps as it should... that proved the alternators internal vlotage regulator worked properly.........

Everything was fine till I tried to shut it down... turned ignition switch to off position and nothing... car still ran....

I had to choke the carb with a rag like yesterday... a thing that I had almost convinced myself didnt actually happen in the panic of those moments when it was smoking....

So..........
Something in the ignition switch was the smoking culprit.... starts the car fine and all the accessories seem to have power... but if it wont stop in the off position then the ignition is getting power when the car is not running which is not good....

This car has a tilt Chevrolet column (I think Nova) with key in column .... How do you get that thing out to replace it?

Id even be willing to install another ignition switch in the dash...

Anyone have a brilliant idea?
Thanks!
Craig