You can maybe get one from wrecking yard if money is short. You want a good one also if you can. hate to change it sooner then later. Call around cause sometimes you will get a higher amperage for the same price. If not mistaken the alts range from 35amp to 45amp.
Fuel line vapor locking happens when the engine compartment fuel lines or carb bowl gets very hot and causes the fuel to boil . If you are getting vaporization in a fuel line you can many times solve that with a heat wrap material. If the fuel line area that needs to be protected is relatively small, you can buy like a fire resistant baking glove and cut it up and wrap around the line. Use some tie-wrap or wire.
Vapor locking fuel line in this weather? seems a little hard to do unless the engine compartment isn't ventilated. I find it hard for that to happen up north here, but anything is possible.

Exposed light is no big deal, except hard on the eyes mostly. Though those lights get friggin baking hot, so do not touch the bastage. It will burn the hell out of a finger. It surprises me that they don't melt the covers on them lights. You will probably not find a cover at autostores since our trucks are slowly vanishing from the planet. You might have to replace it with a generic one or junkyard time again.




PS. Hey Tink...I will be headed to California again in the near future, so maybe this time if your not too far off the path I can drive by and wave, lol. I'll give you a warning when I get an estimate of the time. April later in month most likely.