Hello all!

I was cleaning out my parents attic and found an old espresso machine. It's a Mini Gaggia from the mid 70's. (I'm no professional when it comes to this stuff but I love a fun DIY project!)

It was in descent shape so I've decided to bring it back to life. I took it apart cleaned it up, updated the wiring and replaced the broken rocker switch... Only to find out the hot water tank was leaking from the piston seal.

I've been on what seems to be every site/forum trying to find replacement parts with no luck. Some older posts on this forum refer to the same issue, and resolve it. However the posts are pretty old themselves and the links are now broken.

That said, here I am asking for this community's help!!

Would anyone know where I can source the piston seal from? And while I'm at it I would like replace the group head gasket as well.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I'd really love to get this machine going again.

*Pictures attached. (Machine, piston and broken seal to be replaced)

Thanks for your time and help!

Hi! and welcome to HB!
for the replacement seal you could contact Francesco Ceccareli, he has some spare parts (see here: http://www.francescoceccarelli.eu/Faida ... limont.htm and an amazing website on home lever-espresso machines.
cheers!,
Rob

I would recommend tse.at. They're in Germany, so shipping takes a bit longer. But they have just about everything you could need for a Mini Gaggia, that's still available.

https://www.tse.at/us/shop/index/cat/c2 ... ruppe.html

New elements, seals and o-rings. Pretty affordable as well.

I actually ended up using this kit from Amazon for the element gaskets and thermostat gasket.

BUSY-CORNER 343 Pieces Rubber Flat Washer Gasket Assortment https://a.co/d/56tLiQ6

And for the group seal, I had a real hard time getting the hard rubber from the original in, so I used a Cafelat silicone gasket. I think the 8.5mm Blue for the E61 group should work the best for the original portafilter.

Thank you soooo much @banshee_toys. This is incredibly helpful.

Cheers,

No worries! I just rebuilt mine as well, and it took me quite a while to find out exactly what was needed.

Let us know how it turns out!