Vintage installed temp guage

Just took delivery of 2004 Vintage from Bill Dodgen. How much trust should I put in the temp guage? Seems to move very slightly after engine is completely up to operating temps. I want the look of originality and would prefer this gauge work properly or replace with another more accurate replica gauge. Any suggestions??

Are you sure that the moor is not running too cold ?
A good way to check is when you have driven the car for 10 plus miles, the oil stick should be very warm almost hot to the touch when removed.
Pull the wire from the sender unit on the motor and ground the wire , the gauge needle should peg all the way over....if it does, you may have a faulty sender unit,if it does not peg the gauge is perhaps the fault, but first check all of the wiring connections before considering replacing the gauge or sender unit.

My vintage gauge never moves very much at all. However, I've used a dipstick thermometer and verified that even a little movement translates into a significant temp reading. It may not be "accurate" but once you have an idea of what temp relates to what position of the gauge, it is consistent and helpful.

Patrick; do a search on the subject. I had the same problem and basically added a couple of resistors in the back to shift the range up a little so that the needle moves a little more. There's no way to make this accurate so I have it for looks. For an extra $20.00 I installed the Gene Berg oil temperature dipstick which basically gives you the info. you want to know; when to turn it off when it gets too hot. I'm a happy camper now. Here's the link:

http://www.geneberg.com/product_info.php?products_id=256

I'm with Brad...... The needle just doesn't use the whole range of the gage. (much like my fuel gage)

Sounds like the sending unit is the wrong one if this happens to others too

Update>>>> I spent the day "safing off" (retired UNION Sheet Metal worker's term for blanking out oppenings that air can move through) the back end of my VS engine compartment. As I rung the car out (70-75 mph on an 85 degree day), I found that the heat gauge responded as expected. The needle did not leave the left hand rectangle on the gauge, showing the cooling improvement that I had hoped for. YES! Before my air sealing work, the needle would get up to the "curved line" which would result in "desieling" after shut off.
What I'm trying to say is that while the gauge appears to be designed to provide an aesthetic balence to the old VW instrument cluster it was intended for, it is somewhat misleading in real life. Bottom line is that the needle has little travel relative to a large field, but is reliable if you if you understand the thing's nature.

I've heard that the problem lies in that the sender is meant for installation on the oil sump and not on an adapter on the oil pressure sender. I installed the Gene Berg oil temperature dipstick (about $20.00 and a 5 minute install time) and now feel safe.