Things you find........

This is from that white 2008 GRiSO Michael is saving at the moment.

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It's what happens if you don't change the clutch fluid for a while.

Like 16 years!

It's not surprising the owner thought the clutch pull was excessively heavy!

Gack!



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The lack of a watertight seal and expanding boot over the oil in that reservoir is ridiculous.
Probably Brembo's worse product ever

I have found on several of these that the screws used to secure the lid down are too long. The threads bottom out before pulling the lid down against the seal. Buffing 0.75mm off the length of the screw improves things.

i don't suppose a bare alloy casting face in close proximity of brake fluid helps, would a smear of silicone grease on the flange and not overfilling the reservoir followed by not over tightening the cover screws hep ?

similar thing i'd on my suzuki bandit but after a full rebuild and disassembly it worked fine.

Looks normal for old shitters laying around to decompose.

Why would you bother with two $8.00 exhaust manifold gaskets when you can just fill the exhaust ports with muffler putty?

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This is apparently Mistral's idea of a good location for a lambda probe as well......

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Not impressed.

And 'A shop that will remain nameless' just kept closing up the valve clearances every few thousand kms on this engine when they got noisy.

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Noice! Not!

Incidentally this is a 1200 Sport plated as a 2014. One of the ones with the supposedly 'Better' flat tappets. It's done 59,000 Km.

Saw a post on the FB GRiSO group this week, an owner asking where he could get replacement flat tappets for his 1200. Someone piped up & recommended a supplier……..

Oh, FFS!

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I have most of a set in my toolbox! Still in factory packaging! If he wants he can have them for almost exactly the same cost as a 'B' kit with extras, postage, and a bottle of good Irish whiskey!

Fuck these numpties! The probably buy the myth that 'Flat tappet engines make more power' promulgated by venal fucksticks in Europe and the USA!

I fart in their general direction!

Actually I don't! I fart wetly and profligately, with pinpoint accuracy, at them!

This:

I was speaking to one of the Guzzi Faithful late last year, complementing on his very clean and good running Norge, 8 valve. As the year range fell well below my understood change over to roller followers I asked if it had been rollerized. He stated that it had not and didn't feel it was required as he was told by a well respected Guzzi Shop owner, who was also riding a pre-roller 8V, that rollerization was not required. I am not a "sky is falling" kind of mechanic, but, I would think if the Guzzi Factory offered warranty replacement of a component based upon known failure I would want to replace this component before failure. My opinion is that the Guzzi Factory supplied warranty work and parts long enough to get out of the liability of a full recall. Now that these machines have passed on to their second, third or fourth owner the maintenance history becomes untraceable, no liability. Kind of a shitty corporate think lawyerly under the radar solution, delay.

Closing:

Even a well run and respected shop has their own culture and opinions regarding preventive maintenance. Other shops are staffed by complete hacks and idiots but somehow keep their doors open. I am not intending to tarnish any owners or operators, just making a point that experience and opinions carry a lot of weight withing this community. Results vary and trust earned requires it's own maintenance.

Pete Roper wrote:

I have most of a set in my toolbox! Still in factory packaging! If he wants he can have them for almost exactly the same cost as a 'B' kit with extras, postage, and a bottle of good Irish whiskey!

Fuck these numpties! The probably buy the myth that 'Flat tappet engines make more power' promulgated by venal fucksticks in Europe and the USA!

I fart in their general direction!

Actually I don't! I fart wetly and profligately, with pinpoint accuracy, at them!

Pete,

Could it in fact be that Guzzi sued the maker of the diamond coated tappets that are at the heart of all this necessary changeover on the thousands of pre 13 8V motors??? I would bet yes, so they should ALL be covered by Guzzi full warranty with labor cost included.

No, the design failure was entirely down to the engineers, not the product per-se. It was a flawed design from the get-go. The original chilled cast iron tappets were too soft and the DLC coated forged steel ones, coupled with the wrong springs, chosen because of the valve weight and material, meant that it was always going to be a clusterfuck.

The tappet producers just manufactured what they were told.

Well that's my theory and I'll stick to it until someone produces evidence to prove me wrong.

I will gladly agree with your theory. I myself am thankful I bought my 13 with a motor number so close to cutoff. It almost requires me to be thank ful to the riding Gods. For when I bought the bike  from original owner I had no idea there were issues with the 8Vs. And by the sounds of it, many other consumers didn't know about it either.

I rode 4 hours to look at a silver GRiSO back in 2017. Can't remember what year it was, but it was before I learned about the flat tappet issue. Luckily the salesman had better things to do than sell me a bike. So I left. Feel like I dodged a bullet. Picked up my Rosso SE a couple months later.