everything went fine with the new cable. when i test drove it all good. then i turned on the parking lights just to park it in the garage and smoke rolls out of the vent headlight switch area . i disconnected the battery and no more smoke. when i changed out the cable i pulled the dash bezel and then discovered the gauge themselves are remove able. . i noticed a wire terminal on the fuel meter gauge seemed a little burnt. any experience with this?

I'd say one of the + gauge illumination light wires is grounding somewhere.

you can always just pull that fuse, and it will be drivable untill you have the time to troubleshoot.