Wiring the gauge cluster / instrument cluster overlays

[jrim]

Alright, I did a search for 'wiring' before posting this but alll sorts of junk came up, and nothing necessarily related to what I'm looking for.

I purchased the white light up overlays for the instrument cluster from another Aleromod member a couple months ago. I planned to learn electronics in the near future (at the time of buying) from a buddy who could teach me those sorts of things... long story short, it's March now and I still have, basically, $35 sitting in a brown box.

So today I decided to take them up to Car Tunes and see if they could do a custom install. It's 2 wires - a power and a ground wire - not too hard, right? Wrong, they didn't want to mess with the cluster. Said that last time they tried on a different car, it didn't turn out very well. I was however told, "If you put it in there and leave the wires hangin and bring it back, we can wire it for you I'm sure.".

I took the cluster out, taped the white gauges on, left the wires hanging as instructed, and preceded to drive to Car Tunes with my gauge still unbolted and the bezel loosely attached. Upon arriving, I'm told "Oh, you did it today? I don't know if we have time to do that today...". Although they closed 2 hours from when I got there, they were busy on other jobs.

I drove home, knowing in the back of my mind that I would be driving tomorrow morning without a visible cluster - unless I removed the white faces but that is more work than it's worth, IMO.

At any rate, I'll be going by Car Tunes again tomorrow to have it wired up. I think I'm looking at "just a garage charge, maybe $35", says the associate at CT. $35 to have a wire grounded and one spliced into another wire? Really?

If anyone can provide pictures, I might consider undertaking this project tomorrow on my own. I watched a few HOW-TO videos on soldering and it seems relatively simple.

A couple questions, though - can I solder this wire without removing anything except the cluster? I've read on the forums numerous times that the cigarette lighter wire is the one to shoot for, and from what I've read in wiring diagrams, it's orange; but is it accessible from the cluster area? If anyone could provide pictures to help with this, I would be eternally grateful..

I have an aftermarket radio professionally installed by Car Tunes. Is it possible that there is a ground back there I can readily use? I'm not entirely sure on how to wire the 'ground' wire, so information on that would be appreciated.

Lastly, if I were to tap into the cigarette lighter wire, do I look for the wire and cut it, and create a "T" join with the wires? A 3-way solder?

Open to all input, thanks in advance.