Side By Side

Here is a shot of my red 1990 Oly and the Brown 1987 Oly side by side. I wish I could keep them both. I will pull another shot on it tomorrow, and then give it a nice polish and cleaning, getting it ready for the new owner.

Frothing Milk

Not the prettiest Cappucino ever, but man does it taste good!
This machine steams milk with a lot of power. I used Gaggias before I got my first Cremina, and I was shocked at how much easier it is to steam/foam milk when you have as much steam power as the Cremina
Ready to foam milk for the cap!

FIRST SHOT!!!!

I pulled this shot while trying to take the picture. Not the best shot I ever pulled, but not too bad
tamping the grinds
Warming the cup
Alright, here goes the first shot

Pstat set

The Pstat is now set to .9bars and ready to make espresso. I will let the machine cool, then refill and pull a shot.

Pressure test

Olys use a pressurestat to regulate temperature. The range that an Oly should work within is 0.7 to 0.9 bars. I prefer my machines to hit at .9bars and this one is about at .7. I will adjust the P-stat to .9bars before I pull the first shot.

Warming machine up for first shot

Another reason to use a later machine is that they started putting these 'cuts' in the treads ontop of the boiler. This cut is a saftey feature that give you a loud warning if you try to open the boiler cap while the machine is too hot. Older machines will not give you this warning, and spew hot water everywhere when the cap is removed.
filling up the boiler using a silicon funnel
sight glass in action
warming up.

flushing the boiler

At this point I am give the whole system a complete flush by heating it up and running water through it to make sure that any impurities from the rebuild process are completely removed. At the same time I am cleaning the portafilter and basket in the discarded water. I will pull a shot later today.
Group in action
Yes, this is a pic of the steam valve open. You are not seeing steam becasue the steam is very dry. Perfect for making a nice cappuccino.

more pics of assembled Oly

condition of case

Back
Left side
right side
Interior

Top
marks on corner
Other corner is clean.

So here are pics of the case. As you can see the paint is in amazing condition and has great depth and shine. There are a few nicks to the paint, but nothing major. Overall very acceptable.

Testing for leaks

Installed bottom plate
Fired it up for a leak test. So far so good.

connecting the wiring

heater element rewired

P-stat rewired

Final installation

Group head installed

P-stat installed
Steam wand installed

Final assembly of the boiler

Boiler ready for assembly


Boiler installed on fram
Sight glass installef

Heating element cleaned

Cleaning the old gasket off of the heater element was quite a chore, but well worth the effort. The elemet has been descaled and cleaned. Assembly will start next.

Taking a break!

So I just thought that I would post a pic of my break time from the 1987 Oly restoration. The shell on the right is the brown beauty full stripped down. In the center is my 1990 Oly and on the left is the Macap M4.

Boiler removed and cleaned

Removed the boiler for descaling and cleaning. I did the same with the heating element, and as soon as it is cleaned, I will start reassembly

Sightglass removed

Sight glass removed and gently cleaned.

Steam Valve Rebuild

Steam Valve before removal
Partial dissasemble
I soaked these parts while I replace the gasket and lubed the internal parts

Back together and ready for final installation.