First of all, the fusible link was a factory device that would protect the power feed cable in case of a hard short in the car's wiring. It typically was a short length of smaller gauge wire as you describe.
It's always good to have protective devices in electrical circuits so I recommend replacing the fusible link, if possible.
You could try to find a suitable fuseholder and fuse to use instead; the fuse rating should be slightly above the output rating of the alternator. Perhaps the car audio afttemarket has suitable fuses, used to feed the high-power amplifiers.
Your black wire to the HEI BAT terminal was probably installed with the HEI conversion. Check to see if it has 12 volts with the key in crank position and in run position. If it does, than you probably have the HEI wiring conversion done already.
George
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