Hey guys. A voltage regulator question. I have a '69 396 and am sprucing up the engine bay for the upcoming show and cruise season. The car is numbers matching and a lot of the items under the hood are still original. I wanted the "door buzzer" to work again (for reasons I am not sure) and decided to replace the horn relay, plus the relay was looking a little worn after all the years and was not responding too well to my cleaning efforts.

Back to the original question, I took off the voltage regulator to get to the horn relay. The regulator on the car was chrome, "heavy duty" embossed on the cover and obviously an after market replacement. No problem, called Rick's, ordered a "correct" regulator for the big block, gloss black "REMY" cover and gold anodized base. The "correct" one arrived but had a few small differences from the one I took off the car. It does has the 4 pin connector on the side and the spade terminal on the back for the radio capacitor. However, it has two resistors or something across the back between the terminals and my harness will not plug fully into the connector on the side. A bigger problem, when it is connected, the amp gauge is now doing a bouncing act back and forth.

I thought it might be a ground since the wiring diagrams show a ground wire from the base to ground, I tried that, no difference. The old one did not have a ground wire and was most likey ground through the base of the regulator to the front cowl. Put the old one back in, the harness connects firmly and everything works as designed.

Thoughts? I am thinking about just scuffing up my old one, tape up the connectors and give it a shot of gloss black. Put it back in and call it a day. At the "judged" shows, it will lose some points but right now, I ran out of ideas trying to make the "correct" one work.

Thanks.

Donald, Was the regulator connector replaced at one time? Most aftermarket regulators should plug right up to the regulator with no problems. Maybe the one you got from Rick's was bad (One that got by QC). The two resistor wires in the back of the regulator should not interfere with the 4 pin connector. Maybe you can try another regulator and see if the resistor wires are in a different place. You could always like you said, paint your old one black, but it will not have the Delco-Remy cover on it like the original.

The regulator has to be grounded to the radiator support via the black ground wire to work properly. It will not work ground through the body since it is insulated by the three mounting bushings.

Heartbeat has NOS screw on Delco-Remy embossed covers that will solve half your problem.

I have a new correct voltage regulator. It is grounded the way original was grounded. My amp guage bounces around same way but only at idle. I think I will try the electronic (not correct) version and see if I get the bouncing. If not, then maybe these new correct jobbers are defective. I have heard that the newer style are better and more reliable anyway. Plus, it's not like a voltage regulator was expected to last forever. It was really a throw away once you pinpointed it was bad. Maybe you can install the correct when at shows and use one that works when driving around.

I would not use an old 35 year old voltage regulator. It's a risk not worth taking. The last voltage regulator that went bad on me almost burned my car up. Luckily I smelled burning plastic and was able to disconnect the battery before anything seriously bad happened.

67 RSS - Just curious, can you elaborate on how having a screw and an embossed cover solve half his problem. Not trying to be controversial, just trying to understand what you mean.

Original post expressed concern over incorrect looking chrome cover in addition to having incorrect unit (me thinks)...so if you can get a working regulator with base that appears correct you can purchase a correct NOS cover.

Thanks guys. I overlooked the obvious that maybe this new batch of reproductions are faulty. It is interesting that stope4 has the same problem. My amp gauge continues to bounce around with the engine under an increased idle of 2000 RPM.

Camaro Dave, the wiring harness is the original harness, the plug fits on the connector but will not fully "engage" the little black plastic clip that is suppose to hold on the plug tightly. I may have described the resistors the wrong way, they do not hit the connector, it is just that the one I took off did not have these (maybe they are internal). Regardless, the chrome cover is riveted on and would have to be drilled out to check.

67RSS, thanks for the idea with the embossed cover from Heartbeat. I would be interested in one of those if I could get off those rivets.

Stope4, what is the deal with the electronic ones? Do they have a cover that screws on? Who is the supplier?

Thanks for all the help guys. I will most likely return the regulator to Rick's and ask for a replacement. Try that one, if it has the same problem will forget the whole idea and go with the aftermarket.

This afternoon, I scotch-brited the chrome cover and gave it a shot of gloss black. Actually looks pretty good except for the embossed correct cover.

The original regulator does have the 2 wire wound resisters on the underside.

What many have done is get a Wells vr715 electronic regulator ( > $20 @ Autozone) then put an original cover on it (the Wells reg cover is only 3/4" tall.

That gives you a modern electronic regulatlor that works and looks original.

Just did mine..drill the rivets out from the backside..they come out easily ...thats why you need the screws which come with the new cover ($20) and are correct from photos Ive seen. My unit is a stock replacement in service when I bought the car in 1976 and was riveted ..it still functions well. You have a base that works- sounds like you just need the cover...have fun.