instrument cluster stops working, blows fuses

my friend has a 99 cougar and just replaced the alt. thinking that was the problem, but now it keeps blowing a 7.5 amp fuse located in position 30 in the fuse box. this causes the instrument cluster to not work, stop charging battery, traction control is off and the factory alarm. plus many many other bells and whistles. and ideas as to why this is happening? i did not see any other threads, any help would be muchly appreciated.
Thanks

tough question. try posting about it on fastcougar.com/forums. there are a lot more "experts" there than here.