Hi Don, first, welcome!
Second, 83 is a transition year, the 83 was supose to be a Water cooled 1.9L
year but they had a lot of air-cooled left... or something like that, who
care! (who would want a air-cooled engine in 83!!!!!!!!! he he he)

So, do you have a 1.9L water cooled engine? if you don't know, take a look
at this picture from my site and tell us if it's the same engine or/and do
you have a radiator in the front:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/huotx/engine/engine_after1.jpg
careful, the 2 engine look very similar, only the cooling hose are different!!!!

After you are sure which engine you have, it will be a lot easier to help
you. Why, because i suspect that the sender is the problem, the sender is
not located at the same location between the 2.1L and 1.9L and 1.6 Diesel
and the Air-cool 2.0L and the TICCO 2.0L and the Subaru sand the
caterpillar6.2L....(lol)

Sender look like that (the black one):
http://www3.sympatico.ca/huotx/temp_sender.htm
The sender job is to.... send the temp to the gauge, this one as a
connector, is the conector ok?

So normaly you should have a 1.9L engine, if am right the connector is on
the left rear side of the engine bay (hey, 1.9 owner, help here!!!!!!!!!!)

Cheers and good luck, Ben
http://www3.sympatico.ca/huotx/engine1.htm