finally got a lot of my problems figured out and rockers adj right. now car has sat for 3 years with 3/4 of gas. so its got bad gas. but car was running decent and i went to pull it out on the road and it ran nice. now i pulled out and the lights started getting dim. down the street they got really dim, i turned the corner and it was everything i had to keep the car running. i had to fight it and just barely let out on the clutch to get it to move. so i dont know what is wrong. i just put a new opti and coil on. one big problem is that none of my guages are working. for some reason there was no fuse in the panel and my roomate hooked up a meter and said there was no power coming through. didnt work with a new fuse in it. please help.

 

Reads like you were running directly off the battery with no charge.
There is a plug on the back of the alt. Make sure it is plugged in. Also the power wire from the alt. to the battery. Make sure it is tight. If these things check out you may have a bad alt. Take it off and have it tested.
Did you confirm this no power issue after this all happened? If so the battery may not of had enough juice to power anything.

 

yeah everything on the alt checks out. i figure it is bad, it has sat for 3 years and is original alt. but will your alt going out cause your car to spit and sputter and then die.

 

If you were running directly off the battery when it's not being charged then yes.

 

any ideas about the guage cluster

 

If you're talking about the 10amp "gage fuse" #9 in the I/P fuse block. It gets its power from the ignition switch. With the KOEO Check the socket for fuse 1 and for fuse 5 for power. If they have power but #9 does not, the problem is in the fuse block itself. If none of them have power, the problem could be on the pink wire from the switch and or connector C200 pin B1.

Could your dim lights problem have been from a poor running engine that was turning so slow, the alternator could not put out enough power?