Re: Odd assortment of things....

One of my Spitfires has the valve cover painted with the same paint the body 
was done it.  Cheap hardware paint (I think) in a camo pattern, and it looks 
just fine on the valve cover.  Been that way for at least over a year.

I think your alternator is killing itself.  Giving you the low voltage, smell 
and sound.  They're cheap to replace.  I don't remember what the deal is, but 
it's something about a portion of the circuit going bad, causing the rest of it 
to work overtime trying to make up for it, and cooking itself to death.  You 
can rebuild them and buy all the parts for one you want, but it's cheaper to 
just replace it.