Ok.. I thought it was obvious the red is pos+ the black is neg- but when I hooked the battery up, the thin wire coming from the neg- cable to the back of the alternator went up in smoke.

The red ended cable which he said was pos+ connects only to the alternator bracket

The black connected to the back of the alt (skinny black wire) and then a little further down, connects to an orange fused wire into the main harness, as well as going back to the starter I guess.. so

Is my red actually negative, and my black is positive? What is going on here.

 

yup they're backwards your red is ground u can see in the pic it bolts to alt bracket and the bl was probably installed after by someone they didnt get the right color u ALWAYS double check wires if YOU haven't installed them had the same problem on a customers car

 

thank you, I'm so ashamed of myself .. haha. I fixed them up, and put in another new battery, so it should be all good now car fired right up and nothing is catching fire.

 

that's good got lucky sometimes i've seen alot of wiring get messed up by crossin the wires so you got lucky good luck