Roller tappet kits

Can someone (Pete?) provide some definitive advice on the difference between the A, B and C kits that are available for upgrading to roller tappets?

I understand that the C kit is for earlier four valve heads where the head needs to come off to shim the valves. However, not quite so clear on the difference between the B and A kits. I have a 2011 Stelvio which I believe needs the A kit. However, the B kit is quite a bit cheaper and the only difference I can see seems to be the provision of a seal for the spark plug hole in the rocker cover.

Cheers
Steve

'C' kit consists of three sets of head gaskets, inlet and exhaust manifold gaskets, rocker cover gaskets and tampons, shims for the inlet valve spring seats and o-rings for the rocker covers as well as the new camboxes and assorted hardware.

'B' kit contains just camboxes and hardware plus rocker cover gaskets, o-rings and tampons. None of the gaskets required for replacing the heads after shimming and no shims.

'A' kit is the same as the 'B' kit apart from the fact that the camboxes are machined differently with th an o-ring groove at the bottom of the plug tunnel to accomodate the short tube used on later engines and the thicker neoprene gasket that seals the cambox to the rocker cover.

Your bike being a 2011 most likely requires a 'B' kit. The way to check is to look for a drilled 'Dot' in the paint on the inner face of the head next to the manufacturing date stamp and whether the plug tube is sealed by an o-ring or the later gasket. The dot in the paint indicates the valve Spring seats are already shimmed.

Pete

Thanks Pete, much appreciated as always.

Quick way to check.

If your rocker cover looks like this you need a 'B' or 'C' kit.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

if it looks like this it needs an 'A' kit.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

To work out if it needs a 'B' or 'C' kit you need to check the heads for the dot in the paint.

So, if it has a severed fingertip, it needs a "B" or "C" kit?

Street wrote:

So, if it has a severed fingertip, it needs a "B" or "C" kit?

You owe me a new laptop, as mine is now covered in spewed beer.  

Kathi -- who humors me, but usually isn't that amused by stuff I point out here or elsewhere -- had a similar reaction.

Bill

Desired effect achieved! Cred for me!

Yup, more cred Pete +1

Hi, if the B and C kit camboxes are the same, could a B kit be upgraded to form a C kit buy purchasing the additional parts.

O-ring 26 x 2,5. (873626) 4 required
Valve gasket ring (436438) 4 required
Inlet vale spring shim (877847) 4 required
Note: instead of the shim there is a new valve spring (B013517), you use one or the other, not both.
Exhaust Gasket (976376) 2 required
Inlet Manifold gasket (873879) 2 required
check thickness of existing before ordering. 2 required.
GASKET CYLINDER HEAD 8V 0.65mm (874621)
GASKET CYLINDER HEAD 8V 0.85mm (874622)
GASKET CYLINDER HEAD 8V 1.05mm (976311)
B kit plus above parts above  works out considerably cheaper than buying the C kit.

I'm about to have my 2010 A7 engine sport checked and am looking for cost saving options if my tappets have failed and Piaggio wont provide the upgrade parts free gratis. advice appreciated

Williamblackett1968 wrote:

Hi, if the B and C kit camboxes are the same, could a B kit be upgraded to form a C kit buy purchasing the additional parts.

Yes.

Yup, I've basically covered that in another thread. The expensive bits are the head gaskets. Rather than buying all six I'd measure the ones that come off when you do the job and just buy those therefore saving yourself a bit of beer money.

Pete

Please some advice. My GRiSO has damage to its valves and rods due to the flat tappet problem. Does the kit include the rods and valves, or are they bought separately?

I've been having some trouble with the bike on idle. Could this be related to the tappet problem? The following are the pictures of my bike:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

My rods

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Don’t worry unduly about the rockers themselves, there’s plenty of surface area on the shaft surfaces. If you have any worries about them just give them a polish with fine wet and dry abrasive paper to remove any burrs.

As for the other parts? The tappets are toast and everything else is thrown away with them. The kit consists of complete camboxes, the only parts you re-use are the rockers.

Pete

Thanks Pete.

Im about to buy the parts for the conversion. Apart from the kit what else do I need to buy?

Any experience making a warranty claim from countries where the dealer warranty policies suck?

jretanacr wrote:

Im about to buy the parts for the conversion. Apart from the kit what else do I need to buy?

The only thing besides the C kit that my dealer charged me were 4 o-rings for the sparkplug tubes, and about 6€ worth of “small material” which I assume were just various screws and bolts.
Also you need new oil & an oil filter.

Thanks, so even if my tappets are done, I dont need to replace them right? Thats the point of the conversion. Its a chole new system.

Correct, the kit replaces the old ‘flat’ tappets with new roller tappets, which are included. You can see the contents of the C kit in my first post in this topic: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]