1979 GMC Jimmy starter wiring

The wiring to my starter shorted out and melted on the metal tube it goes thru to protect it from the exhaust heat. 2 of the wires appear to be 10 ga. Going to the solinoid. They go into a link & appear to come out as 1, 12 or 14 ga. Wire. Is this a resistor or a fusable link that I can bypass until I can replace it at a future date. The distributor is the hei with the coil in the cap. This 2 into 1 connection i'm referring to is about 6" from the solinoid itself. It looks like a solid piece of plastic. There are no fuses in it. Just 2 wires going in and 1 comes out to the solinoid.