MC54-250-B Voltage regulator questions.

[smoak]

Finally tracked down all my wiring issues where I had a harness melt and other issues... you can see more here.

The harness that melted was coming straight off the stator wires, looping around to nowhere and then connecting into a harness that goes into what I am assuming is the voltage regulator.

Here is a pic of the unit I am talking about:
Photo May 09, 4 51 03 PM.jpg

The bigger box with the cooling fins (located on the right side rear) has a couple of harnesses coming out of it, and one leads to the stator. So I rewired everything properly and started the bike and let it run. All the wires coming out of the VR got super hot, some too hot to touch. The VR itself got really hot, and the little finned box thing above and to the left also got hot.

So, questions:

1. Is this my VR as I assume?
2. If so, what is the little finned box?
3. How hot should this unit and the wires coming out of it get?
4. If this is what happens when a VR goes bad, are they a simple part to find for replacement?
5. Would this thing getting too hot be what made my bike die while going down the road?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Smoak