Voltage Regulator- Who makes a good one post Covid?

ACME SS said
With the VR plugged in, it varies between 15-17VDC. When I unplug it, it quickly drops from around 13.5 to 12.5 and then slowly drops from there. I didn't do anything with the wiring or harness or alternator.

The reason I replaced the VR was that after I installed all new gauges which included a voltmeter, I noticed on the first drive that my voltage was dropping and so i drove home quickly and when I got in the garage it was around 7v and the engine quit. I had been charging it between drives up to that point cause I thought it wasn't being driven enough but having the gauge showed me that it wasn't charging. Also, when I removed the original, the back of it was overheated and liquid solder had almost worked its way to the surface. The replacement VR fixed the problem (not for long) and now it is the opposite issue in that it seems to be overcharging.

Two things. Make sure CERTAIN sure the VR is grounded, and that the IGN feed to the VR is "at battery." Here's how to check

With the key in "run" but engine stopped, access the closest electrical point to the VR IGN connector. This is likely the key feed to the ballast resistor. Hook one probe of your meter to that and stab the remaining one into the top of the PLUS post of the battery. You are hoping for a very low reading, the lower the better. If your read more than .3V (3/10 of one volt) you want to find out why

VR ground. Do this check first with all accessories off, and again with heater, lights, etc powered on. Run engine at fast idle to simulate "low to medium cruise." Stab one meter probe into the battery NEG post and the other into the mounting flange of the VR, hard, to stab through paint, rust, or chrome. Again you are hoping for a very small reading, zero is perfect

If those two readings are OK you have a bad VR. If you keep blowing up VR's you likely have a partially shorted field (the rotor) in the altlernator If you look through some of the shop manuals, there's a procedure in there to measure rotor current draw