Pulled the ammeter and it was toasted on the back ...
The needle turned brown it got so hot -
Even the wire discoloured from red to black over an inch from the gauge. and the insulator melted nicely -
I can't get the bolt on the right hand terminal to loosen, it's fused pretty good -
I've now spliced the wires and took a feed off of it for the volt meter (which I've yet to track down). Soldered the leads together, gave them a copious amount of liquid electrical tape (to keep the air out and prevent any corrosion), then wrapped it well in real electrical tape to ensure it doesn't ground out - I thought I had some proper sized shrink tubing, but 5mm was the largest I had and it wasn't sufficient :-(
I then took apart the console and wired in the accessory jack, so now I can plug in my volt meter and see the charge before I start the car, then monitor the charging voltage while she's running and then see the charge at the end of a run - she performed perfectly today (had one of the kids ride shotgun on a quick spin and call out the numbers, charge voltage never went above 13.8) ... I'll need to go on a longer run and try loading up the system (headlights, fans etc.) to see if that changes things.
P.S. JB I found the MSD tach adapter, wires looked fine coming and going ... I think I dodged a bullet here (no fire) and am going to be watching to see if things are settled down now.
Thanks guys!