1 - Is the 5V from the regulator supposed to "pulse" or be steady? I have a multimeter on the 5V and the other side to ground and the scale on the Digital MM is pulsing. The scale goes up, hits OL, drops, goes up, repeat.

2 - I was working on the wiring I had the DBL wire that brings 12V to the regulator and it touched the metal back of the gauge. At that time, two lights I had plugged in, lit up. I guess that means my orage wire for the dashboard general lighting is grounded somewhere. I had the gauge cluster laying on the carpet, so it should not have been grounded.