erics wrote:Sure.

a. Inspect the gicleur and gicleur filter.

b. Disassemble/inspect/clean the brew solenoid valve.

When you are measuring flowrate, the better method would be to dispense into a pyrex measurer and time the delta between 2 ounces and 6 ounces or 4 ounces and 8 ounces, etc. etc.

Some X-rated pics of your machine would be helpful as I'm sure some listeners are wondering what an early Faema/Elektra looks like.

Hi Eric,

Per your request I have posted the "x-rated: pics of the guts of this machine -- you can view them by following the link below. It is a post on the coffeegeeks forum restoration and modification pages that contains the history and details of the restoration of this machine:
http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/espres...ods/499708

When you order your gicleur filter/screen and associated spring, you should also order a couple of spare gicleurs to play with. That pump you have is waaaaaay oversized and when you combine that with Elektra's standard gicleur sizing, that means that puck prep must be equivalent to the "cat's meow."

That (as found) ~ 0.50 mm gicleur may have been intentional.

Elektra's can be successfully operated in the home but that was certainly not their intended base. I'd set the pstat at 0.90 bar MAX and operate from there. In your neck of the woods, the Elektra knowledgebase resides here: http://espressocare.com/

Cool machine. I've got a very similar one (assuming about the same vintage) except that it has a really decorative round body with no room for a rotary pump and no hot water tap. I've heard the parts for these steam valves are really hard to get, did you need to buy anything for the valves?

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner on your request for info on the steam valves. Most parts are available except the valve body itself. You can order them form espressocare.com. I had to clean out the steam and water valves and had to replace one of the cone shaped shaft seals that was allowing scalding hot water to leak out of the valve by the lever (ouch).

Philip