my temp gauge doesnt work. its either resting on 100 the whole time or its pegged at the top of the dash never in between

Its not the sending unit, thats new
its not the gauge itself i replaced it with a good one, no luck

could it be a broken copper strip on the board behind the gauge? Any ideas?

 

You might want to check the wire that goes to the sending unit in the head(driver's side) and see if it's touching the exhaust manifold or grounding out on something else. Whenever that wire gets grounded to something, it'll peg the gauge.