Radio Bracket Removal: A few questions.

[Marc A Levy <malevy@xxxx>]

I replaced my Radio bracket this weekend with a replacement "DIN" cut
one.

Center console removal was easier than I though. When I got everything
apart, I was surprised to see a real mess of wires. I also noticed that
all of the AC panel light wires had been cut, and some ZIP cord and
black tape was used to connect the lights to one of the other
connections. I then realized that this was someone's method of making
the panel lights go on and off with the headlights. I removed the ZIP
cord, and restored the correct connections with some crimps. I then
performed the modification at
http://www.dmcnews.com/Techsection/acpanellites.htm Has anyone had any
bad experiences with this mod? I find it odd that the car would be
engineered to have a dedicated relay just for those 4 small bulbs in the
AC panel! Also, the lights look brighter now than before, because I
think it was on the dimmer control before. Has anyone come up with a
good modification to put them back on the dimmer in a clean way? or a
fixed resistor to cut the light a bit?

While removing the dash, I broke the light dimmer switch. For now, I
hot wired all of the wires together. The dash lights are brighter than
ever. I seem to remember DMC Joe saying those dimmers are no longer
available. Does anyone know what the specification on this part are? I
assume it is a linear taper potentiometer, but what is the resistance
and wattage?

I also noticed that there is a loose (looks like it was cut) ground wire
attached to the small screw on the side of the bracket. there are a few
(5 I think) ground wires in there, some of them have what looks like a
capacitor on them, so I assume the wires may be for noise suppression. 
The wire that looks cut is red (after the capacitor). Anyone know where
this is supposed to go?

Thanks,
Marc