I mounted the H-D regulator directly onto the steel plate without the rubber cushions. I used some oversized bolts between the regulator and the plate to give it an air gap. When I removed the original Cycle Electric regulator I checked the ground and it was perfectly fine. The regulator was very much dead and not just partially dead.
Have had a whole slew of Harley Davidson groups passing through here and have had a few conversations regarding this issue and they all agree that the stock regulator supplied by S&S (Cycle Electric) is a POS and should be avoided. The H-D unit is practically bulletproof and is usually mounted directly without rubber bushings. These guys just love the S&S but really looked pained by the regulator.
When I first read that (I only saw it after my second post in this thread), I thought to myself "But there has to be a reason for those rubbermounts - perhaps it will all shake loose or the innards might fail prematurely". But then I took a closer look at the pictures in the threads I linked to, and it seems that doing without rubber is the "done thing":
At first glance, I would agree. But. There are two different design philosophies involved. The Harley unit uses the brute force approach in that it is always going full blast converting AC to DC and throwing the rest to ground. Fairly simple circuit wise. The C-E unit is constantly adjusting to load and I think that may be where it fails as it takes changes in the rpm's and constantly adjusts to load. I can see where a simple digital circuit could get quite fried trying to do this and then, all of a sudden, something weird happens and its poor brain just goes into meltdown.
I'm still building analog vacuum tube based stereo systems as I LIKE the sound. Don't get me started on digital...
