I thought some folks might be interested in seeing the preliminary results of the project to rebuild my Conti Prestina. The machine was stripped down and the frame and side panels sent off for powder coating. The boiler, valves, etc. were cleaned and re-installed. The safety valve and pressurestat replaced. The first four photos show the boiler front plate installed and the original pressurestat before I decided to replace it. The last four photos show the boiler installed and the new Sirai pressurestat. At this point all that remains is installing new wiring, the bodywork, and replacing the lever group. If the weather cooperates and cools down some I'll probably finish this weekend. Here's the photos:

Very nice and new looking. Here's to cooler weather. If it is any consolation- The PNW is getting your hotter temps - over 100 for Portland almost to seattle....makes it too cold to work in my basement shop when I have the central A/C on- it temps out at 58 in there - brrrrrrrrrrrrr

Hi Bill,

Very nice interior photos. Your Prestina looks great! Can not wait to see the finished result when you get the side panels on.

I always felt the Prestina is designed to be a work horse/form follows function kind of machine. There were no fancy decorations or unnecessary add ons (I consider the labels were for identification purpose but Conti sure makes them look good on the Prestina). Despite its angular appearance (back corners of the Prestina are round), I find its beauty lies in the effortless way that it produces excellent shots consistently as well as the study nature of its construction.

But I suppose most of us who owns a lever machine appreciate function in whichever form it comes in.

Looking forward to see your finished Prestina soon!

Chiate

Great work there Bill.

May I ask, are the group seals the same size as a modern commercial Conti? Did you get your parts from Conti direct?

I plan to follow your lead in a few weeks with my Empress.

cheers
Paul

Hi Paul,
The group is supposed to be the same as on the current Classica lever model. The seals in my group were in good condition so I put it back together without changing them. I have ordered seals, etc. from Conti in Monaco in case I need them in the future. My contact at Conti is Edith Godlin. She is a lot of help and seems to be interested in these old machines. In fact, when she left on a two-week holiday last month she advised my to wait until she returned before I placed my order. She said no one else there was familiar with these machines. Just email her at egodin at conti dash espresso dot com. Edith even mailed me a copy of the parts list and diagram for my Prestina and a list of all the parts still in inventory.
Good luck with your Empress!

bill wrote:Hi Paul,
Edith even mailed me a copy of the parts list and diagram for my Prestina and a list of all the parts still in inventory.
Good luck with your Empress!

So Bill, is there still an heating element available? That would be my greatest worry [ in the future...].

Hi Mo,
No such luck! The installation of the element is so simple, however, I don't think there'd be any problem finding one to fit. There's just two holes in the boiler plate for the element connections to pass thru. The boiler itself is so large in diameter that about any configuration of the coil would work. I am planning to contact the person mentioned in this forum to find out the cost of having one made to fit.

I've been asked what happened to the project to rebuild my Conti Prestina. What's happened is that the functional part of the rebuild was completed almost two weeks ago. I brought the Conti in from the garage, connected it to the water line, tightened a couple bolts to stop a few leaks, and started pulling shots of espresso. The first two shots were sent down the drain, but after that they've at least drinkable, and often very good.
The new handles ordered from Conti in Monaco should have been here at least a week ago, so I was waiting until they were installed to post some more photos. Today I finally located the parts, but unfortunately it looks like they won't be delivered for a least another week.
So for all the Conti fans out there I'm posting a few more photos, but not of the machine with the panels installed. That'll have to wait for the new handles!
First, here's a closeup of the new Sirai pressurestat and the new pressure relief valve.



This shows the new lights. I added the yellow one to show when the element was on.



This shot shows the connection to the heating element. Notice that the element exits the boiler end plate thru two small holes. It should be fairly easy to custom build a new element, if necessary!



This photo shows the new switch, the 10 Amp fuse folder I added and also the barrier strip used to keep the wiring neatly installed.



The last two photos show the insulation for the boiler and a sneak preview of the newly powder-coated side panels. According to the parts diagram I got from Conti the boiler was originally insulated but the insulation had long since been removed. I just used duct insulation from Lowes.

Neat work there Bill. Well done.

I stripped down my Empress yesterday. Sent the frame out for blasting/powdercoating and all panels for replating. I ended up dropping all copper parts off to my dip-stripper friend. Usually I sort the copper out myself but cannot due to work/family commitments.

I am going to take the boiler to a custom heating supplies company next week. They are confident that an element can be easily installed.

Thanks for giving me Edith's name. I have emailed her about group piston seals. My ones are only about 50mm dia, much smaller than on a modern machine. Ascaso and Nuova ricambi only list the 63mm ones. Hopefully she will be able to help me out.

cheers
Paul

As some of you know, I cracked the sight glass on my newly rebuilt Conti while trying to stop a small leak. A replacement arrived Friday so I'm finally posting some more photos of the 'new' Prestina.
As you may recall the frame and bodywork was sandblasted and powder-coated with gloss black.


The handles with red inserts are from the current Conti lever model, the Classica PM.

I ordered the bottomless portafilter from Espresso Parts.