I spose you could try, but it's my gut that there was some ground issue that involved multiple grounds...it'll be dark outside by the time I can get to my car...(until saturday) so I'm no direct help...wish I did a write up on it.
Pretty sure I just spliced it into whatever 12v I could find that only drew power with the key on...if you're going to EOC a lot with the MID you might want to give it constant or it's own switch or something, that way the mid will still read when the key isn't in the run position (not that that's a huge amount of time when you're EOCing anyway). I don't know what kind of draw it would have on the battery if you always left it on though...
I decided to muckle onto it with a pair of vice-grips from the side and wiggle it back and forth with a punch of PB Blaster. Before I was just trying to pull / pry it out. This method seemed to work much better.
Looks familiar.
Amber bulbs? My climate control doesn't look nearly as white in comparison.
If you find an elegant method of mounting the cluster, be sure to post it up.