Unknown Brasilia model. Identification help and body parts needed.

[bishopthirteen]

I've got to stop bugging you guys so much. Can I get banned for being annoying?

So here's the latest. I bought this machine for project parts (Various, please don't ask ). After getting the machine home and starting disassembly a buddy came over, saw what I was doing, asked me why, then told me to cool my jets citing nearly complete condition. All I see is a small boiler in a big metal box with some nice components waiting to be liberated; Ceramic steam valves, E61 Solenoid groups, pump, etc.. My friend is smart and my projects are just for fun so I did a quick clean, put it back together and shelved it, untested.

I did not take a picture of the info plate and the machine is at my shop, so with limited info lets see what you guys can come up with as to: year, model, description/availability of the missing face plate and overhang shelf/cover (The existing one looks homemade) and your opinions about if I can gut it guilt free or will future generations curse me. (edit:I think maybe it's a combination of different machines. The Brasilia badge is offset and the whole group cover/faceplate looks weird. Maybe it was damaged and repaired? It seems fully functional as is)

Thanks










I will not know if the machine is fully functional for a few weeks. I'm out of town.

[mteahan]

Probably produced with the early Portofinos during the transition from the centralized CPU to the independent touchpads. The early boxes tended to fall apart and it appears that these have been patched together. They are still available.

It is possibly a grey market machine, as it was officially brought in as the Curtis Abruzzi. It's closest cousin now would be the Gradisca in a low rise version. Is uses the E61, pre-infused heads (B-61, actually), 8.5 liter boiler (more than sufficient in spite of what the "experts" say) and a stock 3kw element.

This should work very well once spruced up a bit. You may want to check the flow restriction on the upper pipe. If it wasn't designed for the US then the port would be too large as they tended to run lower steam pressures in Euro version. If this was brought in unofficially, it may not have the right ones.

Good luck.

Michael
Espresso Resource

[Javier]

Hi Sean,

Just a quick note to say that is a beautiful machine.

Javier