My voltage regulator was acting funny (it was the original, 40 years old), so I replaced it with a new one. The new one has the needle on my volt meter vibrating around 14 volts and the lights on the dash flicker when the car is idling (that stops when the engine is raced). I could not reuse the original rubber incapsulated nuts and bolts that secure the regulator to the radiator core support so I insulated it with rubber faucet washers. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Did you replace the ground wire that runs from the regulator case over to the core support nearby? That is a ground return for the regulator. Without that wire, the regulator case will electrically float. It's a short wire, three to five inches long with a 1/4" or so ring lug at the core support end and connection to the regulator case ground at the other.
You can still buy the correct rubber isolator nuts. I bought some from a Corvette specialty vendor at one of the car shows. They are very common for GM cars of that era. This is not causing your problem, but you can put it back correctly if you wanted. Faucet wasthers won't provide the mechanical isolation that the original part gives.
