figured some of this out....the small clips on the left of the photo hold the heater control lens to the housing (2 on top, 1 on bottom), the 3 little brackets, as was said above, hold the wire harness part that goes over to the heater control/light (they attach to the heater control(2) and clock corner (1)). The washers I kinda guessed at that, looks like they are best served holding the cluster to the dash (just the bottom 2 bolts) and the one bolt attaching the heater control housing (right side bolt) to the dash panel. Also figured out the 2 brackets on the instrument cluster top, attach the plastic sleeve that goes over the harness that runs along top.
Still looking for info on that metal loop bracket on the right of the photo.