I'm thinking my '74 has the four holes on the face of the piston - will verify next time I pull it to clean and re-lube. It's an original piston.

Fantastic thread Tom! Is this going back to your brother when you have it all finished?

Thanks guys! Appreciate the compliments. It's hard to know what to change and not to change sometimes, but I knew this was a keeper for me so I redid everything that I wanted to redo -- which was essentially everything. I wanted to make it as close to new as I could.

Will be interested to hear if the piston on the '74 is any different.

The machine is staying with me now that it is done. It was a conspiracy between my brother and his friend's friend (both very generous) to keep me occupied!

With all the components ready, the assembly went quickly. First, I added the pstat, connected all the wiring I could, and mounted the stainless faceplate. Then I mounted the steam valve and pressure relief valve followed by the switch, group head and lever. All the final electrical connections came next now that the switch was in place.






The lever and steam wand followed. The original steam wand is in great shape but I decided to use a wand from the current Cremina models. This version has a removable steam tip and I wanted the flexibility to experiment with different tips down the road (LWW sells an adapter for the Cremina wands and commercial steam tips).




Before moving any farther, I placed the machine on a baking sheet, filled it with water, plugged it into a GFCI outlet and flipped the switch. The light come on and I could hear the boiler starting. I purged the false pressure, let it come up to temperature, and cycled the heat on and off to let the gaskets settle in and to see if there were any leaks. I ran water through the group and used the steam. Everything worked! There was some leaking around the boiler gasket, so after I shut it down and unplugged it, I tightened the boiler bolts and retested. Success! Dry as a bone next time around.



I proceeded to pull several shots and dial in the pstat by taste. At some point I'll make a pressure gauge that attaches to the top of the boiler, but that wasn't on my list for this project. I put the protective grillwork with the reset button on the bottom of the frame, mounted the case and set the drip tray, grid, and top. I added clear protective film strips on the case and frame in areas that typically get chipped -- usually from the movement of the drip tray -- and also added some self-adhesive rubber stoppers on the back of the drip tray to hold it slightly away from the case. Probably overkill, but having seen several beat up cases, it seemed like cheap insurance.

The Olympia Cremina bumped my Club off the bench for a couple of weeks as I got used to the machine...but the Club eventually made its way back next to its cousin. The Cremina and Ceado make a nice pair in terms of taste, scale and design. And having the Cremina and Club side by side really highlights the design language that Olympia used and the differences that a manual and spring lever have to offer.






Overall I'm very happy with the shots from the Cremina and have been enjoying the manual profiling it affords. I am using an Elektra basket with a bottomless portafilter and brass tamper, both from Richard Penney. It's a dream setup and one that I am very proud to use. The Cremina is now very personal to me, having been acquired by my good brother from a very generous friend, involving several months of research and rebuilding, and the work of a lot of great people, each of whom really knows their stuff. I couldn't have asked for a more fun and rewarding project and the machine's history and the community of folks around it no doubt add to the "quality in the cup".

An absolutely beautiful finished product.
I loved your story.
Thanks for sharing and congrats on your new friend.

My 85 Cremina was completely unused when I got it a little under two years ago. We marvel at how this little machine does what it does so consistently.

I had never considered the possibility that the OEM light would some day fail - are you still looking for a replacement? I'd really like to know what replacement you find. It's so bomb-proof I'd never considered the possibility that the light could fail.

Great job, and thanks for posting this. It's the Orphan Espresso videos in compressed into a pictorial format, sans Barb & Doug.

Mine is from '74 too, and the piston's surface is plain, no holes at all. Since I've bought the Naked pressure profile kit, it sits in a box, well covered with silicone grease, it was easy to check.

Excellent restoration.

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

Interesting info on the '74 piston. I wonder what year the holes started showing up?

Regarding the light, I wouldn't sweat it. I basically broke it taking a connector off one of the spade terminals. The connector was on very tightly and I was a little overzealous in dismantling it. After I took it apart I tested the bulb to make sure it was still working before soldering it all back together. The bulb itself seems very robust. Other than soldering, putting the plastic housing back together was the hardest part. I am keeping an eye open for a complete OEM replacement, but not actively searching.

Some final comments and a final addition to the rebuild...

The Cremina has been on the bench for a month and has not disappointed. The shots are good and I can see years of experimentation and improvement ahead. Yesterday, the final pieces of the reconstruction arrived - new handles. HB's very own LDT was introduced to me by Denis of Kafatek. I had hoped that new wood handles matching the shape of the OEM handles and black in color could be created. I wanted the warmth of wood without taking away from the original design of the Cremina.

Through some email exchanges, LDT advised me on the choice of wood, African Black Wood, for its stability over time (it's the wood that clarinets are made of). I shipped the existing portafilter and handle to LDT as a model and what arrived back yesterday was beyond my expectations. The handles are a perfect match in terms of size and shape, and the black wood has a beautiful brown tint when in the sunlight. The handles are smooth as glass, impeccably finished. One is mounted to my Richard Penney bottomless portafilter, the other to the lever. I couldn't be happier and they add immensely to the quality of this machine and the rebuild. Thanks LDT!