Gauge problems

[KiltedBanshees93GT]

Well, I just tried to remedy my gauge problems, and seemed to have found/made even more problems. The gauges on the car havent worked since I got them , the fuel and oil would peg as soon as the car was started, temp is dead, and the ammeter doesent move at all.

I got a instrument voltage regulator, figuring that the old one was bad. I got in there yesterday, and find that the regulator had been completly bypassed. I had to wait till today to actually do anything , since I now needed blade connectors for the reg.
Well, I went down today, and started to first unhook and lable everything, about halfway through the left side, SMOKE starts pouring out of the instrument cluster. I quickly unhooked everything else, finding two of the dash lights broken (one was just the base, the other the base had come disconnected from the bulb.)
Could these be the source of the smoke?
All of the diffusers were partially melted, but none were warm. I replaced both bulbs.

Anyway, after unhooking the battery (Duh), I hooked everything back up according to spec, and cranked the car up. The only things that have changed is now the gas gauge stays dead too and none of the dash lights seem to work anymore.
Also, while I had the cluster off, I found several "wires to no where" in the dash, some had been wrapped, others left cut and hanging.
I'm not worried about the mystery wires too much now, but they will eventually have to be addressed. I closed off the loose ones with e-tape, and left them to ride for now.
Right now my big question is what else can I do, short of just buying a replacement harness?
Should I just pull the whole interior harness and redo everything?
What could have caused the smoke (aside from the obvious ID10T error)?
Do I have to worry about my interior catching on fire? I unhooked the battery for the time being, though there was no smoke after the inital occurance.

One word: HELP.

Thanks
J