Well after seeing chriss66dad's write-up it seems easy enough, but I still don't know the benefit of this. Does it just make a better part that won't go out on you? or does it brighten the gauges up? or what?

 

Just makes it more reliable.

 

I looked at the heat sinks for the 7805 regulators at Radio Shack but decided to use the original case for a couple of reasons. The original case protects the legs of the 7805 from breaking and gave a good point to fasten a tie wrap for a strain relieve for the wires.
I also used some heat sink compound (silicon grease) on the case to aid in heat transfer.
I tested it into a load resistor (about .8 amps) and the case got a little warm and the output stayed a constant 4.98 volts.
Pretty simple circuit and I am sure there are many ways to build it. I also think this will be much more reliable than the original unit.
I just wanted to share what worked for me and how I did it.

 

I understand.

It'll be a while until I get to that point, but I'm saving your link. I'll probably use a heat sink, but your write up was very good. Thanks!