Thanks for the replies. Can't go the painless route, this is a penny budget thing.. I'm getting $50 for the job, and I earned that much before I laid hand on it..

Dunno if it is experience or intuition, but I started the job in exactly the right place. Found what is probably the brunt of all the problems.. the 'hot' wire from the fuse box goes to the headlight switch, and is doubled out from there to the brake light switch. Well, the wire is slap burned in half up behind the dash. I pulled the instrunment cluster, unwrapped the harness, and started surgery. It was not as bad as it looked, the brake wire is gone, but the other wires survived: just had the orange brake wire melted to them is all. That is as far as I have gotten.

If that's the worst it's got, then I'm in good shape. I'll get back to work on it probably Friday or Saturday. Working third tonight, and second tomorrow.. so today sucks. Friday morning I'll probably sleep in.. not as that is any different from any other day... heh heh.. The joy of second shift.. ya get to sleep in..