New temperature gauge mounted

[Midrsv]

I decided to jump on the bandwagon and add a temperature gauge to my bike. I already had a volt meter and didn't care that much for an oil pressure gauge so I just mounted a water temp gauge. Instead of mounting it in the cassette space I decided to mount it to the handlebars with a ram mount.

 

I ordered the parts from egauges.com and went with an Autometer Marine gauge because it was more water resistant.

 

Marine Water Temp

http://www.egauges.com/vdo_ind.asp?T...=ATM-200762-35

 

I also bought the adapter for the sending unt but that didn't work due to a ridge around the hole in the head. The adapter is fairly thin and when screwed into the head the hex is recessed into the ridge which prevented me from being able to get a socket on the hex of the adapter to tighten it into the head. So I used Goose's idea of using a non-fouler and brass 1/2" fitting.

 

Adapter

http://www.egauges.com/vdo_indA.asp?PN=R7965

 

For a housing I used a chrome VDO mounting cup which I modified. I didn't care for the way the housing mounted so I drilled a 5/16 hole into side along with a 3-48 set screw hole. I then mounted the cup to a ram mount plate which had a 1/4-20 threaded hole in the center (http://www.ram-mount.com/ramwebcompthumb/ramb202a.jpg). The gauge fit loosely into the mount so I wrapped a few layer of plastic tape around the gauge until it was a nice press fit into the mounting cup. I am hoping that also acts as a gasket to keep water out. If not it should drain out the back at the wire hole. While it seemed secure at this point I decided to add a 3-48 set screw to make sure it stayed in place.

 

Housing

http://www.egauges.com/vdo_indA.asp?PN=240-017

 

It was a fairly easy install even though I ended up with a coolant leak at the sender which I will address tomorrow.

 

I would like to thank V7Goose and Jlh3rd for their posts and advice on their gauge installations. I probably wouldn't have tackled this without them.

 

Here are a few photos.

 

Dennis

Edited March 15, 2009 by Midrsv

[Squidley]

Looks real good there Dennis

[Midrsv]

I found the coolant leak and it is corrected. Due to being an electric gauage I tried to make all of the fitting connections without thread compound and each connection leaked. So I pulled all of the fittings apart and redid them. This time instead of using the non-fouler modifed fitting I just used the non-fouler as an adapter to raise the adapter from egauges.com high enough to get a socket on it. See the attached photos. I also applied a thread compound suitable for steam pipes to all threads and torqued everything down good. I then checked that the fittings were grounded good to the head and found that there was zero ohms resistance there. Started the bike up and brought the temp up until the fan kicked on at about 215 degrees. They went off at 210 degrees. All fittings remained dry.

 

Whew, glad that's solved.

 

Dennis

[1sttenor]

I found the coolant leak and it is corrected. Due to being an electric gauage I tried to make all of the fitting connections without thread compound and each connection leaked. So I pulled all of the fittings apart and redid them. This time instead of using the non-fouler modifed fitting I just used the non-fouler as an adapter to raise the adapter from egauges.com high enough to get a socket on it. See the attached photos. I also applied a thread compound suitable for steam pipes to all threads and torqued everything down good. I then checked that the fittings were grounded good to the head and found that there was zero ohms resistance there. Started the bike up and brought the temp up until the fan kicked on at about 215 degrees. They went off at 210 degrees. All fittings remained dry.

 

Whew, glad that's solved.

 

Dennis

 

Excellent post, thanks Dennis!