After putting everything back together after my head-job gone wild,
everything is great except that the temperature gauge reads warmer than
before (yes I bled the system).  Before it sat just on the right edge of the
LED.  Now it sits 3/4 of the way up the gauge,  a full half way between the
LED and the far right side.

When I was putting everything back together, I cleaned all wires and grounds
I encounted and replaced the gauge sensor (along with the TEMP 2 sensor) in
the thermostat housing.  I believe that my van is running at normal
temperature and that the cleaned up wires/new sensor is responsible.

The new sensor is not from a list vendor.  I got it on a whim at a FLAPS
while picking up some other stuff.  It is aftermarket and comes in a red box
with the brand name "standard" on the box.

I picked up an infrared temp gun today from autozone ($19.99 !!) and
measured hoses/etc.  After lots of driving, with the needle at 3/4 the way
up the gauge, I get 185-195 at the hose coming out of the thermostat
housing, and 200-205 at the crossover pipe that goes from the passenger side
head into the thermostat housing, and on the thermostat housing itself.
The temperature of the radiator return hose going into the thermostat is
much lower, say 120.  This seems to me to indicate that the thermostat is
mostly closed, which should make sense since it only starts to open at
190.   (These temperatures are maximums; also this is a 1.9l where the
thermostat housing is bolted to the water pump.)  The temperature is very
steady making it seem like it is being effectively maintained by the
thermostat.  If I drive with the heater on full blast, and let everything
stabilize, the temperatures are only affected by 5 degrees or so (they end
up at the bottom of the ranges rather than the top).

Two questions:
1. Do these temperatures seem okay to people?  For as many posts as there
are in the archives talking about the use of infrared temperature guns, I
couldn't find any which list accept temperature ranges.  What do other
people find at these points in their 1.9l (with standard thermostats)?

2. If my cooling system is functioning and these numbers are good, what can
I do to fix the gauge?  If I leave it as is, there is less effective
resolution at the hot end of the scale, where it matters.  Will the sensor I
get from VW or a list vendor be better than the aftermarket one I got?  I
found some reference in the archives to the fact that VW changed the spec on
this sensor, which causes this problem when the new sensors are installed in
the old vans.  Unfortunately, I can't find my old sensor now... maybe I
threw it away.  But in any case it was not in great shape.  I've heard of
people modding the new sensors by adding a resistor.  Is this a good
solution?

thanks very much!
-Wes
'83 1.9l westy