Ive bought a rather badly worn, poorly maintained Futurmat Lever and I need some advice.

I've managed to dismantle the group and remove the piston. The piston is a two piece thing for some reason and according to the diagram is held together with a circlip... but where is it? Do I force it off with a suitable drift? Its really wobbly...

Or... should I solder the two pieces together?

Here is a picture of the two pieces:
https://www.eunasa.com/es/articulo/view ... a_futurmat#

Hi,
I won't fiddle with the 2 parts of the piston - I left all my Faema pistons alone, only cleaned them well.

The 2 parts need to be flexible to reduce the risk of damaging the inner surface of the cylinder wall, IMHO

As Holger says, that is how they are meant to be. A great system it allows the piston to be evenly placed in the sleeve.

They also do not come apart.

Thanks Paul and Holger... I'll leave the piston alone

The slot in the casting on the top where the pin that holds the shaft slides in and out... should that be 8mm'ish Mine are much wider... 10-12mm, but the sides are straight like someone has been cutting and filing?

The levers had a lot of twisty play. The left group would still pull down but the right group handle had to be twisted clockwise so it would move.
The top castings are worn where it guides the lever arm.
The hole in the piston shaft is oval.

So my plan today was to fly over to a machine shop, get the brass sleave drilled out of the casting and a new one put in with smaller slots at the top, make two new piston shafts, then find someone to puddle some alloy so I can square up the castings...

Or... shave some casting off and pin two plates on the sides to create a more defined path for the shaft pin.

That sounds like a challenge. If you run into trouble you can still buy the top half of the groups from Ascaso or Quality Espresso, very good value as well.

I've had good results repairing the aluminium casting but never touched the bronze (?) sleeve. Here is a Velox group head that had completely rusted and fused together. The part was cleaned and then the material was built up with new Aluminium via Tig welding.

Thanks Paul. I was ploughing through your amazing restorations for the last few days to see if I could find a photo of the slot that guides the shaft pin...
Should it be a good fit or have more than a few mm of wiggle?

I got a price from JESUK, two castings is nearly £400... If it were a vintage machine I wouldnt hesitate... If they were £200 I'd moan but I'd order them

OMG! Thanks Paul... Just got a proper price from Ascaso... I owe you a beer or three

Still waiting for parts... but its looking good