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The 4 valve motor is a huge improvement over the 2 valve. 23,000 miles on mine with no problems. The swap does not require any clever tricks or fabrication. I used the engine, entire drive train, wiring harness and everything that connects to the wiring harness. The only fabrication required is modifying the mount for the instrument panel and changing the molex connectors for the turn signals and headlights.The Air box and exhaust works with no modifications.
If you are going to make the swap I will be glad to share whatever information I have
I used to live in Boise, went to Borah High in 71 and spent a year of quality time at the Boise Cascade plant in Nampa.
Does a big bore kit for the 2V 2008 1200 Sport exist. What can be done to increase displacement ?
More importantly, what can be done to increase power ? My bike has a PCV and AutoTune, Mistral exhaust and the aluminum plate intake.
Nothing on displacement. The 1151cc motor is the largest pistons that can be used in the push-rod cases.
A 8V transplant would be next, and I can 1380cc big bore these for you. Just takes (lots of) money.
Really not much & it's something that many new Guzzi owners contend with.
Guzzi's have never been a "fast" machine what they are is a very satisfying machine to own & ride.
Even back in the 70's they were a machine that you could run all day at 80 mph day after day after day & love every minute.
Today they are faster than the old 70's machine but they still love to run along at 80 mph, all day long.
Not to be a jerk just saying the truth: If you want a fast bike buy a fast bike.
Here's something I've noticed over the years with many fuel stop conversations.
Him: "Hey a Goose, haven't seen one of those in years"
Me: "Yeah pretty rare"
Him: "I had a <LeMans> long time ago, great bike loved riding it but I sold it and got a <fast bike>". "Wish I hadn't sold it there was just something about that bike......., well have a good ride".
I thought there was another thread on here about getting more power out of a Guzzi motor.
My 2 cents.
The best option is, in my opinion, a motor swap. The 8 valve motor is an easy swap, the 1400 motor swap would be harder but it would offer more potential (no replacement for displacement).
There has been a 1420 kit out of Italy for the 8 valve motor, but I don't think you can get that anymore. But starting with the 1400 motor you would not need to.
There are the tried and true options, like porting. Heck, if the squish clearance is anything like what it was on the wifes V11 you can get a decent increase just from improving squish. I had the cylinders and head milled so that her V11 motor actually had a proper squish band. That upped compression and improved combustion. I also had it ported while it was apart, it seemed like a good idea. It runs much better, but it still isn't going to out run a actual "fast" motorcycle.
In my opinion, there is a lot of little improvements you can do to a Guzzi motor. They are very rewarding to work on and make better. Unlike most current motorcycles, Guzzi's are not refined all the way, there is still some you can get out of them. Many other motors are pretty well refined and maximized, so that it is very hard to get much out of them. There is clearly room for improvement in a Guzzi motor. Getting 10 or 20 percent more power out of a Guzzi motor is clearly possible. But make no mistake, it will never be Hayabusa fast. So as long as your expectations are reasonable, have at it.
Additionally, here is a link to an old, probably obsolete, option. https://web.archive.org/web/20081221014029/http://www.bigbore.it/index.html
An MGS 01 with that motor won at Daytona in the big twins race a good while back. Interesting that it offered partial liquid cooling but still used two valves per cylinder.
