My 79 has a broken temp guage (not the sender or wiring) and I have a few options.

1. Forget about it as I have driven it as is for almost 6 months now.
2. Wait for the coveted 79 in the junk yard to replace it.
3. Replace the entire instrument cluster with an fb one, easier to find in the junk yards.
4. Add an aftermarket temp guage. Not sure if it is worth the trouble with some of them ie. drilling and tapping a new spot for it.

Right now I'm leaning towards #1 or #2, but I'd like to know what you think.

 

#2 option is probably the worse decision that you could ever make on our cars.

The water temperature guage is the single most important one.
You need to get it fixed no matter what direction you take and fix it quickly.
It takes only one overheat on our engines to destroy them.
Place an ad in the classifieds. Someone is also selling one and I don't recommend the FB one for the Sa models.

You don't need to drill and tap a new spot for the sender. They have adapters to fit into the existing hole.
There are some good threads in the Archives on guages.

 

I don't quite understand. You don't recommend the FB instrument cluster in an SA. Why?

I forgot to mention I have an 83 engine in it if that makes a difference.
I gotta go back to the archives.