the lights on the inside (gauges and instrament cluster) are really dim and up grades i can do to fix that

Clean the contacts and improve the ground path. They are dim because voltage is low. Voltage is low because of a poor circuit (resistance is too high) caused by corrosion.
If that is too much work swap out for LED lights that draw zip for current and need five volts or under.

Big Dave

geeeze, how many times do we have ta tell ya... the lights aren't DIM, ya just CAN'T be wearin' yer shades at night and 'spect ta SEE !!! :eek:


;)

Actually another poor contact that needs attention is in the light switch itself. The rheostat button contact that makes up the variable resister, may be worn to the point were the contact is covering more of the windings than it needs too which will also reduce voltage to the bulbs. In that case a new light switch is the answer (or hard wire the light switch at full voltage by shorting out the varriable resister part of the switch).

Big Dave