Hot engine won't start?

Bad starter could be part of problem, but in this case, not from the exhaust. Open air mounting and this one has a pair of cherry bomb glass packs on duel exhaust pipes. Somebody had a sense of humor. 

I added turnouts so the hot exhaust didn't hit rear tires directly.

Quick update. Got the #2 battery cables installed, then put battery charger on and left it overnight. Battery needed it. Got a chance to get it all back to normal and hit starter. Volt meter went from 12 volts to 10 (had been dropping below 6 volts), engine turned over way faster than had been before and once she started, volt meter quickly climbed up to over 14.......so alternator was trying to charge. New alternator has arrived, currently waiting on mounting brackets to install it.

Also, as mentioned before, part of fuel line was lacking insulation, so that has been replaced. For first time I also noticed that the 2 or 3 inch area where the insulation was missing passed within about 2 inches or so of exhaust manifold, which is likely why it was cooked off. New high temp insulation on it now.

Old alternator is unable to keep up with any type of load, so belief is under normal operation was getting a slow battery drain. With any lights on, drain was killing the battery.  Hoping new alternator fixes that. Will see.

As noted, this is a 318 Chrysler engine, but has none of the normal charging system.....external voltage regulator, etc........and somebody in the past rigged up an AC Delco GM style alternator with internal regulator. Rigged is an understatement. They found a way to mount wrong fit alternator to engine......big stack of washers used to get belts to align......then made a tensioning bracket......and welded it to the frame.......so belt tension varies if engine and frame do not move together.

Had this GM alternator tested to see if it was working and it was only putting out something like 30 amps. Have seen the original stickers for some Dodge D600 farm trucks from early 70's era.....same engine....and even those had 43 amp alternators.

If you don't get all the day's hay picked up before dark, and turn on the lights, the drain on battery goes way up.

Doing some research on this, they also say it is very hard on the alternator if battery ever gets really low and engine is then jump started such that alternator then has to charge a nearly dead battery. That has happened with this.

Another reason for getting the bigger 90 amp alternator installed. Hopefully it will keep up with the load and keep battery topped up all the time. Once topped up, extra capacity of bigger alternator won't matter. It only charges as needed. Seems like only way to go.