You will need to find out what type of car it was for, because some generators need power from the F terminal on reg, and some are needing a ground signal from F terminal. .
Not that same exact but similar. Back in the early '70's the stock regulator took a dump on my '54 BSA single. Local BSA dealer was working out of what had been an old auto repair shop, rummaged around out back and said "here try this", IIRC an old used 6V adjustable Autolite for a Chrysler Corp application. Set it down a tad so it wouldn't cook the small battery, it took the vibrations well and never had any problems with it until I parked the bike a few years later with valve and piston issues. One of these years I hope to see how well it took the storage test. Ed
The unit you have is a replacement for a Delco. Should be marked 6V or 12V on the frame, seldom seen in 12v. Most of the 6v were pos. or neg. grd., having a button to polarize. If the gen. is fresh, reg. points are clean and all connections and grounds are tight, it should last forever. Standard made one with a finned (kinda) aluminum cover. Western Auto sold them as "Wizard" brand.
I'd heard that people would have trouble on a long trip if the regulator was set on the hot side. I tried adjusting a FoMoCo script reproduction, it was kinda touchy. Replaced generator and installed a NOS Motorcraft and regulation is perfect outta the box. Were folks constantly adjusting regulators back in those days? City driving at night would really put the whammy on a battery, so I can see the practicality of having an adjustable unit. Or, having two regulators on hand possibly. One for wintertime, one for summer.
^^^^^^^^^^ I'd heard that people would have trouble on a long trip if the regulator was set on the hot side. Were folks constantly adjusting regulators back in those days? Boiling the battery dry was the problem. Back then, when you saw a car with the lights on during the day, it was probably from out of state on a long trip. The "headlights on" was to absorb the extra currents, not for safety ...
The last Chevy to not have a voltage regulator, was in 1937. Before that, the generator had a "Cut Out" mounted on it, which acted like a circuit breaker. The generator itself had an adjustable third brush which could be advanced or retarded to give more or less electrical output from the generator to the battery to prevent overcharge as required, such as when driving at night with the radio on Vs during the day without the radio or lights. A voltage regulator was offered late in 1937 as a Dealer upgrade and was standard on '38's.
In the 60's I installed quite a few at Sears. We were very careful when setting them and always used a voltmeter which most folks did not have. When a customer came in with a battery that was really dry it usually had an adjustable regulator.. My 39 Indian has a 3 brush and cut-out and you cannot use a digital meter to set it; way to sensitive.
My '36 Five window had an Allstate adjustable regulator on it when I got it, I was 3rd owner! My boss, Red Mayfield, when asked how I could be sure of the adjustment said he'd show me after work. The parts delivery from Griffon's came in the afternoon, and at 6:00 P.M. Red said, "Son? Bring that little Coupe in, let's get a look at it..." He went after the regulator with a mechanic's vengeance, tore it off the firewall and threw it in the garbage! The new box had a string pull, hard card stock, oval box with tin top and bottom. Red removed the contents, a nice shiny silver base with black cover. He said, "Son? Install it...and Polarize it." Then he repeated the commercial: "You're always right, with Autolite." That was in 1958. Seems like yesterday...
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