I finished up and went back to assembling. The piston was lubed with Loxeal-4 and it slipped on like a glove. There was a little resistance between the upper group housing and lower group, probably due to the small buildup of chrome that created a tight fit but in the end it was not too tight for me to screw on the three M6 x 25mm bolts. I did some test pulls and it's very smooth.





I wrangled the two remaining pipes into position, they were close enough to not need too much adjustment. Here is a pic of one of my new flare nut wrenches. Really useful tools and they grab the entire nut when used.



Ok, I had to do this but I put the body panels on even though I still need to do the wiring and test it. I had to clean up the M5 threads for the newly chromed body panel screws with a tap, but the panels did go on without issue. I need some shades for that shine

I tried to maintain original finishes where I thought they would be cleaned up well. Stuff like the aluminum parts of the group, the gold back piece, and the aluminum feet. You can definitely see wear on these parts that show the age nicely.

IamOiman wrote:Well, I don't mind being a guinea pig in this case but I am curious to see what will happen if I keep the bolts as is. I will check on the bolts every so often when the Lambro is in use and document what happens. I've been looking around HB about galling in espresso machines and outside of the instance with your Speedster I am not seeing other significant cases.

I seriously doubt you'll find many stainless bolt or stud with stainless nut combos in many espresso machines. It's a common issue with automotive/motorcycle uses but if they don't get them hot a coat of never seize will usually help. Had the galling issue with my stainless coffee roaster last summer. Bean door hinge pin & hinges seized to each other as the unit cooled leaving the door stuck open. Had to replace the parts. This time I assembled everything with a coat of 2000°f nickel based never seize. No issues since.

Wiring is done, nothing much has changed in my tools outside of a few M6 ring terminals needed for the heating element. I had a cord grip installed and for under the drip tray I threw on some heat shrink insulation.








We're ready for testing! Now I just need to gather the courage to fill up the boiler and actually turn it on

beautiful! great restoration job!!

As a reference, Oliver knows something about restoration.

I fired it up this afternoon. I did an initial heatup to just pressurizing and turned it off, drained the water, waited for the machine to cool to room temp, tightened/realigned pipes, and did a second cycle. I was able to get to operating pressure (about 1.4 bar) but leaks are still plenty! Just to list a few:

Manometer
Both thermosyphon group fittings
Water level fittings (both of them)
Water inlet pipe (on both ends)
Hot water pipe
Possibly the boiler lid? That may be from the first cycle when some water got in the boiler rings from a fixed leak but will be scrutinized.

The boiler was easily drained with my little valve inserted on the bottom of the water level. The leaking fittings suck but hopefully they can be addressed.

The leaks are mostly patched up but a few stubborn ones remain. The Thermosyphon loop seals now, and It's much better from the original heat up when almost every fitting was leaking! It's just the manometer, a lower pipe to water level fitting, and the water inlet I note as hissing or leaking. There is also a slow leak from the hot water valve. Finally I need to fiddle with the vacuum valve as it's not seating correctly.

The gurgling occurs when I pull down the lever because there was no water circulating in the thermosyphon loop, so that sound is the water rushing into the pipes.

I will keep doing heat cycles and adjust so I can flush out the insides of whatever grime or chemicals could remain. The chrome pieces were washed when I got them but you never know! The first shot is coming!

I think I cycled enough water through the boiler so I got ready for the inaugural shot.





The shot looked a little squirty but it was GOOD, like shockingly good. I just used my grind setting for my Bosco with 15g of Saka Caffè Crema Bar. I swear this is the first shot!

That looks great, Ryan! I toasted you this morning for being the newest member of Team HB. The coffee was Saka Gran Bar Top Selection pulled on my 1964 La Pavoni Europiccola. It was very tasty.

i check for leaks by pressurizing with air and then spraying possible leak spots, fittings, etc., with soapy water.