I have been looking for months now for someone to post their restoration process of an old Criterium. I bought one myself earlier this year and have had a massively difficult time trying to get it on the road. I have go everything sorted bar one small detail; the bottom bracket.
I hit some snags with my c.1975 Carlton Criterium (TA, Raleigh) with the threads being 26tpi. This has made finding the right headset,and bottom bracket cups a real pain. Out of curiosity, does your model have the same thread count as mine? I got really excited when you said you had converted it to a cotterless square tapered bracket, as this sounds like a perfect way to avoid the maintenance of cottered cranks.
I am merely a suitable bottom bracket away from getting mine on the road, so if you have any advice to give, i'd love to hear it.
Great job by the way, looks really great. And I love the purple!
L