Lots 'o Questions

last weekend i was cleaning out the 'ol red rocket. i removed the front passenger seat and disconnected the little plug beneath it(whatever that is). I've also taken out all the speakers except for the left rear one and the ones in each door. now for the problem.... for one the guages aren't lighting up! i can turn on the headlights ok but now i cant drive @ night cuz i cant see how fast im going. its sooo dark in their at night. also the interior dome light does not light up when you open the door or if you even flip the switches. And finally, the radio is not working(fatory ford). ive had plans to put in an aftermarket headunit/cd player(prolly a pioneer). this is driving me insane!
 
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Check your fuses? That's the only thing that I can think of.

In my '90, the lights in the dash were screwed up from the time I got the car (for some reason, the gauges and stuff wouldn't light up when you turned on the headlights unless the dome light was turned on :scratch: ), so I never had a dome light (just took the bulbs out of them), and then the last winter that I actually drove the car, the dash lights stopped working completely. I had an aftermarket tach in the car that still lit up, so I just drove by that at night (had to keep an eye on the rpm's though), it actually wasn't all that bad :shrug:
 
The panel dimmer/dome light switch on the Fox Mustangs is notorious for going out. It's basically a rheostat that controls the amount of voltage going to the panel lights making them brighter or dimmer depending on where you set the dial. Over time, the rheostat wears out and then no voltage gets to the panel lights or it's intermittent at best.

Try running it back and forth a few times to see if you can get the lights to flicker a little.

The panel being dark in just one section is indicative of a bulb failure. I think the bulb number is 194 and it requires removal of the instrument cluster to get to the back side.
 
Instrument cluster is a pain, but is doable. Two screws on top, then 3 on the bottom cover pane. The bottom cover panel is clipped into the metal panel behind it. Then there are 2 screws holding the metal panel. then one more screw on the right side holding the instrument panel to the dash. You also have to remove the collar around the steering wheel, which is 2 screws from the bottom side. Its not bad, but its all got to line up when u put it back together or it won't fit.