When riding an ATV in all sorts of varying climates, it's important to be able to monitor your coolant temperature. While most vehicles come equipped with some type of overheating warning light, we've never felt like this was substantial enough for the climate that we ride in where the summers are extremely humid and ambient air tempeartures reach over 100 degrees.
With that in mind, we searched for quite awhile to try to find a suitable temperature gauge that we could use on our quads. We had a few requirements in our quest: Most importantly, it needed to be well made and durable enough to withstand the bouncing around that is typical for ATV riding; It also needed to be a sealed unit since often our ATVs either get in the water or mud or are at least subjected to water during cleaning; Lastly, we wanted it to be stylish. Unfortunately, in all of the searching we did, we never found a product designed specifically for ATVs that compltely fit the bill.
So, we had to expand our search criteria to other markets that may have a product that while not designed for an ATV, would still hold all the qualities we were looking for in a gauge. We had to keep in mind that if we found such an item, not being designed for an ATV specifically, we may have to do some custom fitting to make it work, but that suited us fine.
After quite a bit of searching for the perfect product, we came across
Nordskog Performance out of Anaheim, CA. Nordskog builds a variety of gauges for the automtoive, boating and motorcycle industries. So, our interest was in their marine products since we had a need for the gauge to be water-resistant.
From their marine line of products,
Nordskog has regular analog and even GPS controlled gauges. With the ATV enthusiast's wallet in mind, we thought the GPS units to be a bit of overkill.
Nordskog also sells another model called the Viking series. The difference in the two lines is the Titan series shows a temperature scale from 140 to 250 degrees in 2 degree increments while it's less expensive counter-part goes from 100-250 degrees in 25 degree increments. Both product lines are available in Black, White, or Silver face with Black, White or Silver bezel and both are illuminated.
So, from the standpoint of more detailed temperature reporting as we felt it to be more useful for our viewers, we decided on the Titan series. Now, keep in mind again, this was not designed specifically for an ATV so
Nordskog didn't have a T-fitting available for our application for the sending unit of the gauge to screw in to. We expected this and that we would then have to go in search for an appropriately sized t-fitting. While Nordskog did suggest that a local auto parts store should have such a fitting available that we could pick up inexpesnively, we were not able to find any. So, our search was then extended to the internet for a nicely made t-fitting.
Again, this was not easy to find but we finally came across a
light-weight anodized aluminum Tee from
J & T Products. Available in either red or blue anodized aluminum, it comes pre-drilled for a standard sized sending unit.
You can also choose from a size of 3/4", 7/8" or 1". For our Grizzly 700 test quad, we went with a 7/8" tee and it was a perfect fit. Retail price on the anadozied tee from
J & T Products is $29.95 for either color and any of the sizes.
Overall Impression:
After determing a mounting location for the
Nordskog gauge, and a mounting location for the
J & T tee fitting, we were very happy with the finished results of our installations.
The Nordskog gauge is a very well made product and with it's LED illumination, night time viewing is great. With the
J & T products tee fitting which also is well-made, has a very nice anodized finish and pre-drilled for a sending unit, we feel the two products couple together for an exceptional setup.
Installation Notes:
The installation of the gauge, sending unit and tee fitting were pretty straight forward. The instructions that came with the gauge gave accurate information as to which wires should be connected to what. The only snag we ran in to was that after following the wiring instructions to a "T", the gauge did not function. The provided instructions failed to mention that the sending unit needed to have not one, but 2 wires connected to it, one to the gauge itself (which was mentioned) and then another one back to the battery as a ground. After adding the ground wire, it worked perfectly.
In an effort to find an easy mounting location that would also look as if the gauge was installed from the factory, we decided to mount it in the cover for the waterproof storage compartment of the Grizzly 700. We used a hole saw to drill an exact size whole in the storage compartment screw on lid. Using the provided mounting hardware, we were able to securely fasten the gauge into the lid for a custom yet, almost factory look.
As for mounting the tee fitting, it was self-explanatory and we simply found a location that was easy to get to in order to splice the factory cooling hose.
Overall, we could not be more satisfied with both the
Nordskog gauge and the
J&T Products t-fitting. We consider these must have add-ons for any ATV enthusiast that is either self-conscious of their engine temperature and/or someone that has done performance modifications to their quad(s).
Additional Information:
Nordskog Performance Products
1401 East Ball Road
Anaheim, CA 92805
Phone: 714-991-9999
Fax: 714-991-8888
sales@nordskogperformance.net
Nordskog Performance Products
J & T Products
2475 Tomahawk Dr.
Lapeer, MI 48446
(810) 545-0066
jtatv.sales@jtatv.com
JTATV.COM
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