Sean.......
When T.V. came to town in 6/96, they tested COOLANT PRESSURE, VACUUM, OIL PRESSURES, temps, and more. That TEST resulted in 42 brand-new Vipers already in Reliable trucks going BACK TO CAAP, and 152 total getting new oilpans! Never before....never since.
However, Since I believe electricity is carried by tightly-condensed smoke particles......and the PROOF is that if you cross wires the smoke particles can be seen leaking out...
The simple answer is: the slow-reacting OE guage is NORMAL. Everyone here has it.
More background.....Back in 6/96, due to some unusual problems on the 1-st released GTS, Team Viper hooked up some sensors and leads to my GTS. What I was told by the Team Viper engineer who came to PIR 6/96 for the ride-along is that the Viper IP oil guage and water guages are analog and slow to react, due in part to the slowness of liquid moving to the sensors. [liquid-in-tube=capillary action. Yes? Maybe it was liquid in guage?! Or Would that be viscosity slowing the needle? ] ....
IN ANY CASE: the doo-hicky-thing-a-ma-bob sensors that they hooked up both underhood and underdash for the hot laps test reacted faster, ie real-time and digitally, not analog..... Does that make better sense? If I mis-stated the sensor/electrical relationship, I regret it. Smoke-particle mentality due to Lucas Electrics training!
But my answer to Kevin and JM stands: NORMAL. Don't panic! I hope you agree.....NORMAL