Reply to "No Smoke - Yet ..."

I picked up my replacement at CarQuest, it's part number VR166 - Made by Standard Motor Products, but packaged in a CarQuest box

I dug out the receipt, it lists for $77.82, but I got it for $46.69 "Preferred Cash Customer" rate plus tax - $52.76 out the door.

I was in a hurry, so I just went with the closest store to me, Napa, PartSource and others probably carry the same thing.

A word of caution, if the VR is going, you don't want the battery to boil over, so fix it ASAP - I have my battery in one of those plastic battery holders and it's notched to allow the hold-down to fit over it. If it wasn't in the bucket, I'd be replacing carpeting in the front trunk and cleaning up any damage to the paint underneath from the acid that boiled out - it took a lot of blue shop towels and baking soda to neutralize and clean up the mess in the box - had to strip and repaint the hold-down, but that was nothing compared to what could have happened!

One final note, if you have the stock regulator and the 'stock' appearance is what you want, then I've read posts on other car forums where they've drilled out the rivets in the old and new units, and put the guts of the new VR into the old casing - I'm not sure that anyone will notice the VR in a Pantera when its buried way down on the firewall though.