Assembling the upper group can be a little bit of a pain if you don't know what you're getting into and if you do not have an easy way to compress the new 165mm (sometimes 169mm) spring.

I tried the Faema spring tool but I was not comfortable using it as the piston rod would start to cross thread without the spring being compressed so I will try it another time. I did a final buff of the upper group housing before starting assembly. You can see the rubber mounts already installed.


The bearing guides are not original to the machine. I had two spares from a different group that I could use in their place. Originally I tried fixing the originals but there was a divot from where the bearings wore into the guides and a burr was forming. I tried removing it but it left the indents remaining, and just in case I used the spare set I had that was in better condition. The spare set has a similar wear spot but it only extends to the coating while the bare metal underneath is in good condition.




I made a new technique to install the new bearings. The bearing separator could work but I often ended up having to try multiple times as the bearing would try to go on at an angle to the lever fork. I also used some red scotch brite to slightly take off some material for the new bearings to fit more easily.

The new method involves my vise and a 17mm socket. I have more control in where I am applying force to the bearing when it rests against the lever for. This allows me to straighten the bearing out if it sags on one side, and in the end I got both bearings on without too much hassle. Learning my lesson with the President I had a piece of 3/4" plywood stuffed in the fork so it would not bend from the force.




The new piston looks pretty good. The original had to be replaced with its odd material. I also replaced the piston rod as there was wear/an elongation in the pin hole.



Compressing the spring can be a pain but I got it on in the end. For the piston to begin screwing onto the piston rod you need to get the spring to be about 5 1/2" in length. I use lots of zip ties but a proper tool is an F-clamp or cloth ratcheting tools. I do not have many pictures of the assembly and screwing on of the piston as I was pretty focused and needed to make sure nothing awry happened. I was wearing a long-sleeved sweater, apron, goggles, gloves, and a mask just in case the spring did something funny. For lubrication of the fork and piston rod where water is not in contact I used Kynetx Food Grade Grease (I spelled it Kemtex a few times prior but this is the correct spelling)

Ryan,

Thank you for documenting this so well, including your refinements of technique (I'm thinking especially of the long-sleeved sweater while trying to compress the spring).

If you are getting a leak from above the lower group where the aluminum upper group is located then it is likely your piston gaskets have failed or are not oriented correctly. The piston on the left shows the correct orientation the piston seals should be in (pic from my Faema President restoration), the V-shaped gasket flared downwards and the X-shaped gasket on the bottom slot of the piston. Check to make sure there are no nicks or damage on the gasket as well.

I will show how the group goes together when I get it back from my metal guy who is chroming it (he is on vacation right now and has been dealing with some tough stuff, so it has been delayed for a bit now). Hopefully in a week or two.