Thanks Gord, very helpful bulletin. Johnny N: the ground was for the electronic tach, I happened to have it off in the 'old VR' photo as I was chasing down the original gremlin (thought the new tach might be grounding the ignition circuit, it wasn't). I put the tach ground wire back in the 'new VR' photo.
This VR is a three relay version. According to Gord's bulletin, a grounded field wire would produce the symptoms I'm seeing.
