Electrical is gone

ALright so after the headlight switch nothing changed until I drove the car for a bit. The turn signals and some gauge lights are working now. Problem is, my ammeter is pinned at the +40 until something makes it go back down to zero. After it drops down its pretty stable but sometimes during idle it can get erratic. I'm sure this is a ground problem that has a loose connection somewhere but I can't seem to find the loose connection. Next thing is that my temp gauge was working on and off until I replaced the sending unit, now it doesn't work at all. I hate driving cars without a temp gauge so I need to fix this before any more test runs. The plan of attack is to replace all the bulbs in the gauge panel and clean up any dirt or corrosion that could be there. What else could be causing the problem with the temp gauge problem though?

Thanks for the help so far guys, don't know what I'd do without it.
Jake