8 valve/4 valve swapping parts

Hi, I've got the usual gripe with my 8v regarding the flat tappet failure issue. I've owned the bike 4 years, its only used on nice days as a second bike, has had a camshaft recall kit fitted before I bought it but is now starting to rattle again to the point where I don't take my helmet off until I've hit the kill switch so I don't have to listen to it. The advice I've had so far is as follows; just keep thrashing it and adjust the tappets as and when required, spend the best part of £2000 on a roller conversion or get rid of it and buy an 1100 4 valve. I'm leaning toward the 1100 option as a matter of money/proven reliability but am also toying with the idea of swapping all the best bits from my 8 valve onto said 4 valve. I would like some advice on how much can actually be interchanged ie; complete front end,tank, side panels, tail piece, seat,wheels, shaft drive etc. I was offered a sweet deal against a brand new SE but until they make another black with silver frame and cast wheels I won't be tempted. Cheers.

If your bike has a service history and book that is up to date the factory will supply a roller kit and you will only have to pay for installation. If not? Well, yes, it's on your own dime.

If you continue to ride it it may fail catastrophically while you are riding. Not a wise idea. Just adjusting the valves is not an option.

IMHO selling it with a known problem would be immoral unless you give full disclosure and factor it into the price.

Most parts are not interchangeable between the 1100 and 1200.

Pete

Billy996 wrote:

...........The advice I've had so far is as follows; just keep thrashing it and adjust the tappets as and when required...........

LOL. You call this an advice??
Geez, glad you came here and ask first!
So many clueless morons...and to those I say "If I want to hear from an asshole, I'll just fart mmkayy?"
Best case scenario, you will totally destroy your engine if you keep riding.

If your dealer is worthy, and make sure it's the case, they will document the failure to Piaggio and you'll be responsible for the labor only as the roller kit will be provided by Guzzi at no charge.

Good luck and please, park this thing now.

Welcome, Billy...you are getting some good advice here! Keep us posted on your progress!

Billy, they said the same thing to the previous owner of mine, until it went pop one day, as well as the roller conversion it needed new crankcases and crankshaft, so they can do a lot of damage. The shop i bought it from got the cost for parts covered by Guzzi, it had only done 2000 miles, and then paid a reputable Guzzi dealer to do the work, it cost them £1300 to do that. The bike has now done 13,000 miles since, been to Italy this year on it and it runs faultlessly........apart from......;-)

tick tick ................. Nah, its nuffin.
tack tack ................ Just normal tappets mate.
tock tock ................. Yeah, needs a service.

knock knock .................. Maybe if I rev it harder, it will go away.
clang clang ........................Fuck!



That little mistake cost me a house ..................... and half me super. Double FUCK!
Education is expensive, wanna know what a fucked big end and spun bearing sound like?
Keep riding.

Thanks for the advice fellas, Guzzly is now relegated to the back of the garage and the Cagiva Raptor has now been promoted to no. 1 bike.('aint such a bad thing, I'd almost forgotten how mad that bike is and with a grin factor of 100) I'm so pissed off that such a beautiful machine has been let down so badly by a design fault but hey ho shit happens. I don't think I can live with spending more money on a bike that I simply couldn't trust again so will be looking at selling it off cheap with full disclosure as to it's fault. So, I'm now looking at 1100 Grisos and am being drawn towards a 2006 model with 6000 miles and fsh. Do you know of any problems to look out for on this one as I'm presuming this is one of the very first ones before any flaws became apparent? Cheers

Make sure it's not eligible for the final drive recall. Early 1100's had nasty bearings n the bevelbox. Lift the boot on the reaction arm and get the number stamped into the flat on the casting and get a dealer to run it through the system.

Pete

Ok fellas,once again thanks for all the sound advice,an informed decision has now been made and I picked up my mint condition 2008 GRiSO 4v a couple of weeks ago. I've put 300 or so miles on it and it already feels like I've owned it forever, happy days indeed. My sick 8v has been despatched to a dealer in Poland who wasn't at all worried about the rattle but he did get it for a very nice price.
Now I have a couple more questions; What's the best oil to run on? I'm told 20/50 or 10/60 are both fine and is it correct that the inner and outer spark plugs are changed at different intervals and if so why is this? Finally how often should I be checking the tappets?

Cheers. Billy.

Billy996 wrote:

Ok fellas,once again thanks for all the sound advice,an informed decision has now been made and I picked up my mint condition 2008 GRiSO 4v a couple of weeks ago. I've put 300 or so miles on it and it already feels like I've owned it forever, happy days indeed. My sick 8v has been despatched to a dealer in Poland who wasn't at all worried about the rattle but he did get it for a very nice price.
Now I have a couple more questions; What's the best oil to run on? I'm told 20/50 or 10/60 are both fine and is it correct that the inner and outer spark plugs are changed at different intervals and if so why is this? Finally how often should I be checking the tappets?

Cheers. Billy.

Enjoy! As much as the 8V is a great motor, I think the 4V fits the nature of the GRiSO better. I believe that even the 1100 general consensus says to use a full synthetic 10W 60. Valve Adjustments are every 10K miles, and the inner plugs are supposedly very long lived, little need to change. There are several online sources for the service manual for the GRiSO, I forget where I downloaded mine from, but they were easy to find.