So disassembling further and got more questions...

1. Can I take this further apart for cleaning with a flat head screw driver? Or is this going to open up the boiler itself and I will then need to look for more gasket?



2. There are a lot of coffee ground stuck to the grinder and housing. I guess it is the coffee oil that is building up? Would cleaner like grindz work or should I manual clean with Isopropyl alcohol?



3. I assume from the tee coming out of the pump, the line going back to the tank is where the OPV is located? Do these come with regular 9 bar OPV or do I need to find spring to adjust it?

JRising wrote:I'd say you don't need to further disassemble the boiler, you'd only risk damaging the pipe inside. Clean it as is. Backflush with Cafiza and see what comes out.

Yea that was what I thought as well. Almost undid that before stopping myself lol

That grinder is fairly clean looking. Maybe just vacuum it and sweep it with a small paint brush to get the "someone else's coffee" out of it.

For the grinder, on the top burr, there are a lot of residue that I cannot remove with a brush. That one is easier to deal with since I have taken it out. but for the bottom half, I am guessing under the loose grounds there will also be residues that are stuck. I just want to make sure that isopropyl alcohol would be safe for this cleaning lol

That's an adjustable OPV, you wouldn't need to replace a spring

OH I did not know that is adjustable. Time to jerry rig up a PF pressure gauge to play with it XD

@JRising
When I was cleaning the group and understand the structure better, I am thinking about this....
I remember when we talked, we said the Lelit Group gasket is a bit thicker than the Faema one, so it wont fit
But if the gasket is slightly thicker, does it mean all I have to do is to grind down the thickness of the wing on the PF by the same amount, and it will be able to lock?

Then another thing coming out of that thought, what makes the lelit 57mm PF not able to fit the Faema group? If it is just the wing being too thick, I can also take a dremel and grind it down right? If the wing is too thin, I can go use a thicker gasket to make it fit?

Is there something wrong in my thouoght processs?

yea I think I am going to give it a shot
I asked Saud and he says Imat gasket is still rubber only and no silicone option.
Would be great if I can get the Lelit gasket and PF to work on this

this is as clean as I could get without using brass polish lol
now just waiting for new gasket to arrive and I can put it back together!

Bar Keepers Friend, a tooth brush, and a little bit of water to make the BKF a bit of a paste, would take that center section and your shower screen, to the next level.

FWIW, note that if the black stuff won't come off and seems like it is staining the brass, then the black stuff is Copper(II) Oxide and you're better off not removing it. The oxide keeps the lead in the brass ... in the brass.

(The amount of lead is very small - I suspect that only people like me who used to work in biomonitoring worry about it.)

So now I have done most of the cleaning and just waiting for the head gasket to arrive so I can put it back together, I start to think about the next step...

If I were to do one mod first, which one of the following would you do first if I am new to making espresso?
1. Dimmer mod with pump pressure gage
2. PID control

Thanks
Tom