Denny,
Can you tell why the voltage regulator failed?
That part is a black-box mystery to me.
Before anyone posts the stupid-simple answer, "cheap parts from China" (which is a numbskull's mantra --> cheap parts from anywhere are simply cheap parts), I would like to bore/amuse you with a story.
I will always remember the cheap USA voltage regulator that I purchased from JC Whitney in 1970. I put it in my 48 1/2 ton panel and took off from Charlottesville to Virginia Beach. After a fine "trip", on the ride home, with 6 friends in the panel, at 2am on Rte 250 west, the lights got real bright and then real dim.
For some randomly ridiculous reason, I had a flashlight (go figure) and I checked out the engine compartment. Somehow I had the clarity of mind (smile) to notice that solder was splayed out all around any opening in the generator.
I knew nothing about automobile electrical systems, but I somehow felt assured that the new voltage regulator must have "over-charged" the generator and it fried (note: I had just learned that the 216 engine only needed one set of points).
We drove on the battery-power until the lights were so dim that we could not see. We pulled off the road and slept until the sun rose. For some reason, the truck started in the morning and it got us home (about 80 miles) on the "juice" in the battery.
From this experience, I gained a respect for quality parts - for the next 5 years I bought/pulled used GM parts from rotting trucks in
Leon's Auto Parts ("the walking man's friend"
here 'tis - it is still selling parts).
Sorry about boring anyone who had so little to do that you read this to the end.
Denny, I hope your new voltage regulator lasts as long as my used one has.
