Any GRiSO owners in SF Bay Area (CA USA) with a tappet roller upgrade?

Hi, I am a new owner of a 2009 GRiSO 1200 8v in California, and I want to do the roller tappet upgrade before running on the flat tappets for too long (she has less than 7k miles at the moment). I am wondering if anyone in the San Fransisco Bay area has any experience with getting a free upgrade kit from local dealers? My closest dealership is in Livermore, but there's also one in San Francisco and Elk Grove that are not too far.

I realize there's no chance of getting free installation, but I'm hoping it might be possible to get the roller upgrade kit for free if an inspection of the tappets shows visible wear. I'd probably do the installation myself, unless the dealer could really convince me they'd do a great job of it at a sensible cost. I wonder if anyone has dealt with any of these dealerships on this issue and has an experience to share.

Any tips or stories would be much appreciated!

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller... Bueller...

I have no first or second hand knowledge, sorry. My buddy Don up in Loomis has had experience with the service department up at Elk Grove Powersports. The work done has been good for the most part after some growing pains following taking on the brand. Though he has had good things to say about the earnestness and honesty from the service team.

My guess is that you probably won't have a whole lot of luck with your strategy.  If Piaggio agrees to provide the rollerization bits free of charge, a condition for that transaction will be dependent upon installation by an authorized dealer/service agent.  If you want to do the conversion yourself, your going to have to bite the bullet and purchase the kit yourself.  In either scenario, it'll cost you somewhere in the $700-$1000 dollar range depending upon the kit cost or labor rates at the dealership for conversion.

Just an observation.

Thanks for the reply!

That's a good point, any money I would save getting the kit for free would be taken up by installation costs, plus I'd also have to pay for the initial inspection to check for tappet damage. (And there's a chance they would say there's no damage and reject the claim).

It's sounding more and more like I should just go ahead and order the kit. I'm actually looking forward to doing the job, it looks like it would be fun and I'd really get to know this engine first-hand.

Doing it yourself is not hard at all. Just basic nuts and bolts stuff. Just make SURE you get the right roller kit for your bike! Or, like me, you'll get to practice the job twice and really get to know the engine on a first name basis.

Motormike wrote:

Doing it yourself is not hard at all.  Just basic nuts and bolts stuff.  Just make SURE you get the right roller kit for your bike!  Or, like me, you'll get to practice the job twice and really get to know the engine on a first name basis.

Thanks for the confirmation on this. I ordered the kit! From everything I've read, my 2009 GRiSO need the "C" kit, so that's what I got. I ordered it from here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Can't wait to do it, looks like it should be fun!

Hi GuZeee - not sure if you're still active on the forum but I just learned about the flat tappet failure issue and pulled the cambox today to confirm my flats have failed. I live in the north bay area and have tried to go through Monroe Motors and Elk Grove powersports for parts through MG but no luck yet. Did you end up paying for the kit and doing the conversion yourself? I'm going to need the C kit if it ever becomes available so wondering about your experience and the difficulty of pulling the heads?

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Pulling the heads really isn't hard. By the time you have the cambox off you're quite literally eight fasteners away from it.

Simply remove the header pipes, unbolt the inlet manifold from the head, (Do one side at a time. That way you won't loose the cam timing and the manifold will just sit there supported by the throttlebody.), disconnect the cooling oil feed from the back of the head, (Don't loose the Dowty washers that go either side of the banjo.) and finally remove the two 6mm bolts that clamp the back of the camchain tunnel that you hopefully loosened before undoing the nuts on the main studs that retain the cambox. The sprocket can now be lowered down so it rests in between the two tensioner/guide blades with the chain still on it and the head lifted off the studs.

If you don't have a valve spring compressor or are worried about putting the shims in? Just take the heads, (One at a time.) to your local engine shop and explain what you want done and give them the parts. Easy.

Thank you Pete! You're building my confidence!

markymarq wrote:

Hi GuZeee - not sure if you're still active on the forum but I just learned about the flat tappet failure issue and pulled the cambox today to confirm my flats have failed. I live in the north bay area and have tried to go through Monroe Motors and Elk Grove powersports for parts through MG but no luck yet. Did you end up paying for the kit and doing the conversion yourself? I'm going to need the C kit if it ever becomes available so wondering about your experience and the difficulty of pulling the heads?

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Yes, I ordered the kit and did it myself. The whole experience is documented here on the forum in a thread with pictures. Pete Roper and others on the forum were a big help along the way. This was almost 5 years ago and it’s still running strong!

Don't overthink this. You're not removing the entire cylinder head to do the roller kit! Just the cam support blocks that sit on top of the cylinder heads. Unless you need to get to the pistons or cyl. head gasket for some other reason, leave the head bolts alone.

Motormike wrote:

Don't overthink this.  You're not removing the entire cylinder head to do the roller kit!  Just the cam support blocks that sit on top of the cylinder heads.  Unless you need to get to the pistons or cyl. head gasket for some other reason, leave the head bolts alone.

Oh yes he is. He needs a "C" kit, which requires the heads be removed to add the shims.

Yup. C and D kits the heads have to come off.

Worth pointing out that the 'head bolts' (actually nuts) have to be removed to take off the cam & rocker support !

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Opps, I forgot about those more involved "C" kits. It's been a while.

Pete Roper wrote:

Yup. C and D kits the heads have to come off.

Hey Pete and GG Crew ... so like you all said there are literally no C kits to be found anywhere. I tried multiple sources in the USA and EU.  I did find a potential lead on a B Kit so I've been trying to determine the additional parts that are needed. I searched and searched for Pete's prior post where this is outlined but wasn't able to find it. (I've been looking for hours!) I did find this post that has a list, but this is for a 2011 Stelvio post. Does this look like an accurate list for a 2010 GRiSO, or if someone knows the post where this was already covered could you post that? Thank you again!

UPDATE: Just found another post with the additional parts needed for the B kit so I reviewed both lists and have a couple inconsistencies:

O-ring 26 x 2,5. (873626) 4 required - NOT ON OTHER LIST
Valve gasket ring (436438) 4 required - CONFIRMED ON OTHER LIST
Inlet vale spring shim (877847) 4 required  - CONFIRMED ON OTHER LIST
Note: instead of the shim there is a new valve spring (B013517), you use one or the other, not both. - NOT ON OTHER LIST
Exhaust Gasket (976376) 2 required - CONFIRMED ON OTHER LIST
Inlet Manifold gasket (873879) 2 required - CONFIRMED ON OTHER LIST
check thickness of existing before ordering. 2 required.
GASKET CYLINDER HEAD 8V 0.65mm (874621) - NEED TO DETERMINE THICKNESS
GASKET CYLINDER HEAD 8V 0.85mm (874622)
GASKET CYLINDER HEAD 8V 1.05mm (976311)

1X 1A002063 KIT TIMING TRANSFORMATION - $1,050.78 EA. $1,050.78
4X 877847 SHUMMING WASHER - $1.50 EA. $ 6.00 - CONFIRMED ON OTHER LIST
4X 436438 VALVE SEAL RING - $0.79 EA. $ 3.16  - CONFIRMED ON OTHER LIST
2X 976376 Exhaust Manifold Gasket - $4.20 EA. $ 8.40 - CONFIRMED ON OTHER LIST
2X 873879 PACKING BETWEEN HEAD INTAKE FITTING - $7.28 EA. $ 14.56 - CONFIRMED ON OTHER LIST
2X 874621 GASKET - $42.80 EA. - NEED TO DETERMINE THICKNESS

This one help ?  [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

paulbrice wrote:

This one help ?  [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thanks Paul ... that's where the first list came from so I think I'm on track to price out the additional parts based on that list.

Personally I just bought the middle size gasket because measuring Squish (X) because the unspecified tool to clamp down the cylinders & position micrometer all looked like a 'tool-to-make' too far.....and what's 0.2mm each way between friends (as Bishop said to Actress)....and I didn't like the £60 price each of wasted gaskets

I think you DO want the O rings as the long spark plug tubes were prone to leak anyway & they can deteriorate or damage when you pull it all apart.

I also rollerised a 2009 GRiSO but mine had already been 're-flatted' with 'upgraded tappets' & somehow they'd also switched the cam covers & spark tubes etc to 'short ones' (so I did A kit PLUS shims etc)....anyway I needed the same O rings - especially as it was hard to get the tubes out so might have damaged the originals !

Don't bugger around with valve springs, just fit the shims and be done with it.

Inlet and exhaust manifold gaskets x 2, shims x 4, Valve guide oil seals x 4, head gasket x 2, O-rings x 2, (There are two for the rocker covers in the kit but it's best to do the ones in the heads too to avoid leaks. Be very careful extracting the tubes that you don't damage them as they are NLA.), 'B' Kit x 1.

Ok here is the latest: I heard back from a MG dealer Elk Grove Powersports in the Sacramento, California area and the parts person said he looked it up and Kit C is showing as "Green" in the system meaning that they are available from Italy and can be shipped. Seems strange that they're backordered everywhere but he can get one so waiting for confirmation. He confirmed that B Kit and C Kit are now both the same prices (also shows that way on AF1 Racing). Holding pattern until I can confirm that this is too good to be true.