A little more progress. After asking around and people like RedTarga helping out (thanks) I went with the VDO gauge range.
Could NOT find a plastic cutter anywhere, found an injection moulding place in Kirrawee who had a legend of an employee who is into this stuff.
and inserted a VDO gauge in place of the factory water temp...
Its got the 'JST' boost in that pic but only for fitting. J-Spec have promised that 'Omori' as ordered is on the way. (I really couldn't care less that it says 'JST' or 'Omori' - its just that along with the name change they changed the gradations from inner justified to outer which as you see makes it no so good for MR2's)
The VDO temp gauge sits square with the rear of the console. Not exactly perfect and i'm not sure if was a ploy of the bloke that did the work (Dean) to have a shot of Jennifer Hawkins in the background to distract me... (you'll notice that torso in both pics....)
Gauges are being installed tomorrow.