cheers adam and patrick. the rebuild begins now. the search for seals!
i have just posted a proper rebuild post.
thanks for your thoughts.

excellent work....truly an example to all. The galvanic reaction is usually a game ender in situations like this, it always helps too see someone else finally crack one without breaking the bits.
I have an old aluminum bus that some genius PO use steel bolts on for various trim attachments etc...almost all had to be drillled out or replaced in some way, rusted steel bonded to alu is really hard, the small steel fasteners are so stiff and prone to shear, and the alu is so sticky and bonded to the steel that almost always the hard steel shears....then I have to drill out the steel....very pleasurable on a step ladder 10' from the ground.
Anyhow good work, I kind of think I might have ended up breaking it, oh yeah nice homemade tool, I do a lot of that myself....sure helps.

cheers patrick - i am glad i didn't break anything obvious too - but it remains to be seen when i turn the boiler on one day and it is under pressure....
if anyone does look at this and wonder how much pressure i was using to get this large thread undone, this is a 1/2" rod of stainless about a foot long - hitting it with a medium hammer with a lot of force - the boiler softly but very securely mounted in a large vice! the main point being that the rod was straight when i started....



there was a bur i had to remove on the bronze where it engaged with my home-made tool - the portafilter wouldn't go in until i removed the bur....
fingers crossed!