1953 Faema Marte restoration

Equipment doesn't work? Troubleshooting? If you're handy, members can help.
JustinBrown1
Posts: 53
Joined: 14 years ago

#1: Post by JustinBrown1 »

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to come across a Faema Marte. When I collected it, I was surprised to realise that all of the moving parts were in operation, and that they also felt smooth. However, when I started to strip it down it became clear that the machine had not been used for some time.
The boiler has been insulated in Asbestos, so that was the first thing to remove. I then realised that the pstat was missing. Anyway, as I started to strip the machine down it became clear that it had been partially restored some time ago as many of the bolts were easy to undo. Two bolts for the heating element were of the next size up and I could see that they were replacements as they were a lot less dirty than the others.








One thing I noticed was that it had only been a partial restoration, and that some of the work carried out had been very shoddy. The frame had been painted very crudely with silver paint, and some of the main pipe connections had not been touched since the machine was new as you could still see the asbestos used to seal the connections. I just took my time and soaked as many nut and bolts as possible with penetrating oil every two-three days. I then used my blow torch to heat up the female connections and short hard tap to break the seal. It worked.
LMWDP 419

Tom@Steve'sEspresso
Posts: 462
Joined: 15 years ago

#2: Post by Tom@Steve'sEspresso »

Uhhhh
FANTASTIC!
where did you find it?
LMWDP #222
Live graciously
Be kind
Have fun

Advertisement
JustinBrown1 (original poster)
Posts: 53
Joined: 14 years ago

#3: Post by JustinBrown1 (original poster) »

Well, I actually had no intention of buying another machine. Of course, I love vintage commercial levers, and if money were no object...but a friend of mine was looking on eBay for an e61, and found an early example with its original Mercury pstat. The seller, who is Italian miscalculated the shipping costs on his listing, and consequently wasn't getting much interest. My friend took the trouble to contact him and explain that there was probably a misunderstanding in his currency conversion. The seller agreed and accepted my friends claims and a deal was made. The seller then said that he had other machines, and sent my friend photographs...my friend then told me the seller had a machine like mine (Mercurio), and I immediately took an interest. I knew then and there there was a 50% chance it would be a Marte. I couldn't believe it. I then had to find a way of coming up with the money in a couple of weeks...
LMWDP 419

jkimpossible
Posts: 30
Joined: 11 years ago

#4: Post by jkimpossible »

Congratulations in your great finding! I am looking forward to follow your restoration steps. Please update your progress with a lot of photos....

Last year, I have rebuilt a single group Rancilio Z9 lever (This machine has original Mercury PSTAT and as might know it flashes - a great cool converstional item). This year, I have just completely(including heating element) rebuilt Olympia Cremina C67(1980 model). I hope you will enjoy your project as much as I did. It's a clean fun. Cheers.
JKIMPOSSIBLE
LMWDP #444

User avatar
drgary
Team HB
Posts: 14345
Joined: 14 years ago

#5: Post by drgary »

This is the one machine that gives me upgradeitis. Congratulations! (That early Faema really is from Mars.)
Gary
LMWDP#308

What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!

User avatar
rotchitos
Posts: 311
Joined: 13 years ago

#6: Post by rotchitos »

very very nice machine. 8)
http://machines.cafeslevier.free.fr/
I look for persons to translate into English one or + pages of my site... :-)

Marcelnl
Posts: 3831
Joined: 10 years ago

#7: Post by Marcelnl »

Great find, keep us posted as I'm sure the result is going to be stunning...

Btw: are you sure it's asbestos and not plain hemp which is/was frequently used as sealant?
LMWDP #483

Advertisement
JustinBrown1 (original poster)
Posts: 53
Joined: 14 years ago

#8: Post by JustinBrown1 (original poster) »

Paul Pratt told me that there are two different sleeve diameters that were produced for the curved group.


50mm and 53mm. Of course I had to take the piston out of my Mercurio just to have a look and compare it to the Marte piston. Luckily Paul has all of the spare parts that I need apart from the front badge. I had hoped to use one of Pascal's which he manufactures, but I measured them both, and the Marte is about 10mm narrower than the Mercurio.



I will take some more photographs in the next fews days to show the difference.
LMWDP 419

JustinBrown1 (original poster)
Posts: 53
Joined: 14 years ago

#9: Post by JustinBrown1 (original poster) »

ok, this is the guy who I bought the Marte from. You can see it on the left. The two group Marte on the right is for his own personal use. But my point about the badge is clearly shown in this photograph. Maybe the badge of the Mercurio (as in the replica that Pascal manufactures) would fit the two group Marte, as the machine itself is physically larger than the single group.
LMWDP 419

User avatar
zeb
Posts: 311
Joined: 13 years ago

#10: Post by zeb »

Yes Justin, my badges are for Mercurio and 2 groups Marte. For one group they fit too but need to be modified, I will have a look on my Marte to see how it fits. Will let you know ;)

Post Reply