1969 Dodge Dart Instrument Cluster Circuit Board

I removed the instrument panel and will purchase new updated circuit boards as these are pretty messed up (the new circuit boards come with a built in voltage regulator). Do you know what the cylindrical thing that is connected to the ground of the instrument panel and has a black wire with a connector at the end is? It did not seem to be connected to anything and the black cord appeared to be tucked behind the voltage regulator (removed in photo). Someone installed the long red wire to the same ground which was also disconnected. Is the cylindrical thing necessary (capacitor?)?

If not the Voltage Limiter, those are usually rectangular.
Almost looks like a distributer condenser??
Any body else know?

This is a condenser and it's purpose was to prevent radio interference. I think on your car it plugged into one of the three holes beside the limiter. If your new board came with a non-original limiter, perhaps this part has been eliminated.

That is designed to eliminate interference with the radio from the original voltage regulator (which was like a points system in a distributor.) Solid state regulators do not put out this noise, and do not need them. I used that screw to add a pigtail for extra grounding, which might be a good idea!

Thanks for your replies! When I get the updated circuit boards I will leave off the condenser and connect the red wire to a ground.