'84 CGT Wiring nightmare

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I have been reading these archives for well over a year now and this is the
first time I have had a question that I really couldn't find an answer to.
I will try to keep this concise, while making it complete.
  Just for the background info the beast in question is an early build '84
(12/83) with the WE solid lifter engine, CIS and a 5spd.  I have been
steadily remedying its myriad of problems, but I have quite a few that are
not fixing themselves and I am starting to smell a common thread.
  Here is a list of what does not work (that I can think of); dash gauges,
fuel pump, back up lights, turn signals and the horn.  there are possibly
one or two others.  Most everything else works, including lights and
hazards.  When I acquired the car it already had a wire running to the fuel
pump so that it would run.  The car used to run fine, but I never ran it
very long because of a few major vacuum leaks.  All of those are fixed now.
  Now if I start with jumping the battery off of my truck it runs fine, but
as soon as I take the cables off it begins to die out and it is not
charging.  I tried two batteries with the same results.  I checked the
voltage on the alternator and it was making 1.5V.  I had it tested and it
was working, but not to spec.  I replaced the alternator and now I have 2.5V
on it.  The voltmeter in the car shows whatever is left in the battery.  I
am now turning my attention toward a short.
  This is where all of the non-working stuff comes in.  Looking at the
Bentley diagrams I see that all of my problem children run off of the load
reduction relay.  I swapped it for a known good unit from another car with
no effect (yes I took my cheater wire off first).  Looking harder at the
diagram I see that this circuit seems to share a ground(8) with the starter
and it says that it is located on the right side of the engine compartment.
I do not have the car where I am and I want to have as much information as
possible when I go down to work on it.  This ground sounds suspect to me, or
possibly the power side.  If anyone has any insight on this I would welcome
it.  Also and most importantly I could use a little more help with the
location of grounding point #8.
  Thank you in advance. You have helped me immensly in the past, especially
Huw Powell and those who have authored the do-it-yourself guides and relay
charts that are posted on that site.  I am in a hurry, cause I only have a
week left on my MD 15 day tag and I still need an alignment for my brand new
front end.
-Sean Shoemaker
'84 Coupe GT WE 5spd (red, or will be again soon)
'84 Coupe GT KX auto (white, just had to say goodbye, RIP)