Hey guys,
Well I decided NOT to get that 1980 244 that I was pining over. The car was littered with rot! So I decided to sink the money into my '91 244. However I need to drive my '84 244 while my daily driver is being worked on. But of course, there is a problem in mt '84 244..(Hey it kinda rhymes: '84 244...)A couple of months ago, my mechanic fixed the overdrive wire that connects to the solenoid. However he did a cheap job fixing it (It's all I could afford at the time.) , resulting in the "OD OFF" light staying on permanently on the dashboard cluster. Ever since then I've been having problems with this (What I think) alternator....The fuel and thermostat gauge do not work...Well they halfway work, and that only works when I really rev the engine. But when I rev the engine, the battery light stays on. I think it's doing this because of the exposed alternator wires, (The wire covers cracked and peeled off over time.) but something tells me that the alternator is slowly dying because the gauges should work if the wires are exposed.

Have you got a voltmeter or a VOM?

First and easiest thing is to check your battery's voltage, with engine running, with engine running and headlights on, and when the engine is off (ideally after a few hours so the battery equilibrates).
The voltages should be ~14, ~13, and ~12 volts (very roughly).

It could be that your voltages are way below these (although then I can't imagine you could crank the engine to start it), and that's why your instruments are acting strange (despite their having their own voltage regulator, at 10v, for them).

Good luck.

No I don't have a VOM of course, haha...