Hi guys.
After finally fixing my machine and getting the lido I am having problems with actually getting good coffee.
I grinded the coffee
Tamped it with the tamper
put it in, pulled the handle and let go.
No crema or anything

Here are a few things I do:

(1) Be sure the machine is warmed up completely. With the 120v model in a 20 degree room it will require about 10 to 12 minutes to get up to temperature; the 230v model should behave similarly. I normally wait from 3 to 5 minutes after it is up to temperature before proceeding.

(2) The coffee needs to be fresh, and grinding is extremely critical!!!! You will not get much crema if it be ground either too fine or too coarse. Too coarse will also not taste very good either!!! There is also a certain degree of roast that makes the most crema which tends to be similar to what many of us like in flavour. If you roast it yourself, if you should want more crema, you can add some Robusta. To me a LITTLE also improves flavour, try from 10% to 20%. Beyond that percentage you begin into the range of burning tyres, skunks, and cat urine flavours! (Especially with heavy roast.)

(3) You really do need to do preinfusion. It is best, I think to wait 10 seconds, then allow the handle to move just enough to release some espresso, and then recock it, and then slowly release the handle--over two or three seconds, not all at once. Late lock in can help too, doing that properly seems to require a bit of practice.

(4) Remember the MCAL group is heated by conduction from the boiler. Their engineers did a quite good job of design to get this to work fairly well. (If you want to leave the machine on for long periods you might want to make a "thermal gasket". If you only make espresso in single short sessions you do not really want to do this, because this increases warm up time. The stock system seems to me to be fine being left on up to about an hour in a 20 degree room.)

(5) To increase volume, make short pulls, do not allow the handle to go all the way up and re cock, this will tend to break the puck. (Each short pull can be made after the handle moves about 15-25% of the way, not later.) I do this for cappuccinos.

When pulling the sh** do I pull and let it go or use my own power to let it go slowly up?

Good tips from rpavlis!
When i first got my lever (Lav Pavoni Europiccola) I also didn't get any crema. In my case I had two problems that I accidentally fixed and now all is good .
First I was putting too much coffee in basket (overdosing) and the coffee was compressed by the screen; so weigh your coffee with one of those inexpensive .1 g scales or at least make sure you have 1/8 to 1/4 inch of room after you tamp.
Second I was unknowingly using stale coffee. I get great crema (no robusta by the way) with very fresh roasted coffee (3 to 12 days after roast date). Those were my problems; yours of course could be different, but good luck with your adventure.

Instead of letting go of the handle all at once, let go of it over a couple of seconds. You want the puck to be evenly wet before you allow high pressure to hit it. (Otherwise the flow will uneven.) Bottomless portafilters are good instructors, but seem hard to find for these machines. If your machine do not have a vacuum relief be sure to bleed it enough through the steam wand. I normally use about 15 grams of ground beans for this machine.

Having lived on small islands much of my life I am all too aware of the fact that sometimes water can get contaminated with sea water when water is collected from roofs when there are strong storms. Perhaps you should check the condition of the cylinder walls from time to time to be sure that they are not getting pitted as they are likely to do when there is chloride contamination.

Afte looking at this vid I am having different kind of thing happening.
I need to use a lot of force to pull the handle and then its like I have a pretty stiff spring

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhAmGNJLADI

I'm not sure what your background on these machines is, but I'll give some info on the MCL just in case.

I own one. Great machine. But it's important to remember that the pressure delivered by this machine is neither as high or as constant as a pump machine. Because of this, many people have made modifications to these machines. Most of the time these modification are simple and won't have any ill effects - most of the time.

Due to the pressure variables this machine needs to have much attention to grind, dosing, and tamping in order to produce good shots.

Like the previous response suggested, are you weighing your dose?

Don't get focused on tamping your 30lbs of pressure on this machine. We routinely got better shots with lighter tamping. Lighter tamping allowed for finer grind to produce better layering of shots.

We always pulled the handle, counted to 8 (preinfuse) and just let go. I wouldn't slowly release the handle as its lowering you pressure from the spring in its most energy stored state. It only goes down from that first release.

IMHO a bottomless portafilter is essential to learning this machine - at least it was for me. Mainly due to our lighter tamping and increased risk for channeling.

I hope this helps!!! Good luck!!

Took some pictures after taking the machine apart.
How does this look and what should I lube up?

My technique to re lubricate these machines is to take the Dow 111 or equivalent and put a ring of it all the way around the piston between the sealing rings, being careful not to get much below them. Before starting this, however, be sure that the cylinder walls are dry. Once you are satisfied that the ring seals are properly lubricated it is time to reassemble. Push the piston assembly carefully into the bore, being very careful as the sealing rings go into the bore, they can be damaged if they do not go inproperly. When all of the sealing rings are inside the bore, slowly push the piston downward. Push any "silicone" that gets trapped at the top of the bore back into the upper part of the bore. Excess on top of the piston with this type of machine is probably a good thing. However excess in the space below the piston is a bad thing. Then simply put the two screws that hold the piston assembly back in place and the job is done. (By the way, always check the bore thoroughly for pitting at each servicing.)