You have removed D80 as a potential culprit. Since it regulates properly some of the time and flakey the other times the focus now turns to:
Is R85 intact (not cracked, burned, etc.)?
Does R85 have a solid 100V on one side when you are getting the 7.6V output or is it also dropping?
Does the collector of Q1, the MJE15032 have a solid 100V on it?
If all those things check out, the focus narrows to a flakey VR1.