Whats that smell???? 4ksQ dash lights burnt/shorted out

[MFZERO at aol.com]

Driving around last night searching for a friends house when i smelt 
something burning. looked at dash to see all my instrument lights were out. 
also the lights around my cigarette lighter light and the lights around the 
voltage meter and oil temp gauge lights, those two gauges still work fine. 
turned the dimmer switch up higher, the lights went on but then went out. 
dimmer switch felt hot after all this happened. is the switch burnt or is 
something else grounding out? I recently had installed an aftermarket radio 
and amplifier for rear speakers, all power and grounds for amp were fine but 
the radio couldn't turn the amp on so I removed it an hour after the lights 
went out. When I pulled the radio out the tape I put on to hold the soldered 
wires hit the mount for the radio and it blew the fuse for the radio, 
replaced the fuse it still worked. any feed back is greatly appreciated. 
Please respond as soon as possible to prevent anything from happening to my 
car.


_mike_
'85 4000sQ w/ borbet type Es and ATE power stop rotors