Seems like about the same route as me bud. I've already gutted the heat, a/c, radio, etc - and have no plans on returning any of it (yet). If anything an MP3 Player and a single sub w/some door speakers... Lol. But the heater core is gone, and hell so is everything else in the car for that matter!

But it's really not that expensive when you consider just buying a Gauge Cluster is around $150 +/- from Florida 5.0...

Florida 5.0 - 1987 - 1993 Instrument Clusters