Lets go back to your original problem. Your alternator gauge shorted out, and you thought it took out the rest of your gauges. Did they all work before? I ask this because, as stated in a previous post, your Alternator gauge is not part of the rest of the gauge cluster, from an electrical point of view.

Can you describe what you mean by Alternator gauge shorted out? That has a huge impact on the rest of the wiring for the vehicle, as it can take out some other wires under the dash and in the engine compartment.

In general, the odds that your temp sending unit and gas sending unit died at the same time are pretty slim. Off the top of my head it sounds like a ground issue somewhere.

If you search the forum you'll probably find specific instructions on how to trace down the gas gauge problem. Its a very common question. (Yeah - I know - that's not much help)

edit - I'll add that you really have to do the board continuity test I described previously. Look at the green stripes on the board and you should also be able to figure out the spots where you should NOT have continuity. Test those too.

And - do you know the voltage regulator is good?