Hey Folks
I am currently considering going all lever, selling my HX and maybe even my Pavoni europiccola and use the funds for buying a single group commercial lever. I like the looks of the vintage machines, and the idea of restoring a sleeping beauty is somewhat enchanting. So, looking at a Conti Empress at the moment, which for me is the ideal of beauty and what I read from owners, produces a very nice cup. The one I am currently looking at needs a caressing hand, probably chrome replating, but more important conversion from gas to electricity. I suppose this means drilling in the boiler plate for wiring and fitting and element, would also fit a pressure stat and safety valve. I know some of you have done the mod, is it difficult? What special tools will I need? Would most parts be replaceable? I know that orphanespresso/Doug has some of the spareparts, but do not know of a supplier here in Europe. Anyone ordered from Conti directly? Do they still carry spareparts for these old machines?
Another machine that I am considering is the Faema Lambro, the one I am looking at would need the same mods as described above. Any opinions on what project would be the easiest?
Since it will be my first real restoration project apart from numerous smaller Pavoni lever restorations I know I will encounter the same difficulties with fixed bolts, and will need do get my own trial and error experiences, but well, it will probably be fun, at least when the machina is up and running in the end
Many questions, but hope it is ok for a relative newbie..

Hi, i've recently restored an electric Conti Empress, there's also a thread on here from Paul, who converted a gas empress to electricity.With the Conti, its a matter of a custom element, and mounting it thru the top plate, and then wiring up with pressurestat etc.
With a Faema Lambro, it would be a similar process, maybe easier because you can buy new boiler end plates with a element fitting - you'd still nedd to add pstat etc.
If you do search on here, there's plenty of pic's of both machines.I think you maybe contacted me recently about the sale of my empress? Sorry, never got back to you - postage back to europe would be very expensive so you may be better off finding something more local.
If you'd like any more details or pic's, let me know or send me a PM.

Converting Conti Empress from gas to 240v

thread from when I converted an empress. sadly now under rubble after recent earthquake.

lambro - even if it is a factory gas model will have either a element or flange plug insitu. Just a matter of checking things out and hooking things up (along with installing a pstat somewhere)

Paul wrote:lambro - even if it is a factory gas model will have either a element or flange plug insitu. Just a matter of checking things out and hooking things up (along with installing a pstat somewhere)

Welcome back Paul, sorry to hear the Conti is still trapped

Re Conti parts, Edith at conti is very helpful, but no parts supply for older machines like the empress. Some parts may be available from other parts suppliers, but you're probably better off with Doug, for the whole parts package, as he has custom made seals for the empress valves etc

Thank you all for your informative replies and links to previous threads. @ Kitt: Yes, it was me who asked about your empress, you have done such I nice restoration job, but also realized what you now write, that shipping it back to Europe would be to expensive.. Sad to hear that Pauls Empress lies burried under rock
For the Lambro, are heating elements still available?
Will get back when I have a machine in the hand, then probably with lots of questions
Ulrik

ulrikmo wrote:For the Lambro, are heating elements still available?

Hi, the Lambro shares many parts with the old Faema E61 machines, which is great because there is alot still available.The element is available, probably not listed as a Lambro part, usually as E61 5L boiler element

Hi all

Ulrikmo, you have a pm

Pascal

Here's a couple of pics of a gas lambro, note there is also a gas pressure regulator line feed to bottom of sight glass

Kitt, great pics, very helpfull, is it really a 5L boiler sitting in the Lambro? I've always thought it looked so small.. Convenient that they prepped the machine for electric conversion. Why is the gas connected to the sight glass?? Seems you have quite some work left on that Lambro ( if the photos were taken recently of course). I've noticed that the chrome plating of the shield or cover on top of the lever group very often looks more worn on the old Faemas, maybe they used another quality or plating for this part, anyone who can share their experiences on polishing up vs rechroming? I realize you need to have had quite a bit of machines through your hands in order to answer this, but would be interesting to hear what your experiences are, since evaluating the chromes condition in photos of often inferior quality in eg. ebay can be difficult. I have been surprised with the Pavonis I've restored how bad the chrome can look, and how far you can get just by simple polishing, but don't know if this applies in general to the older machines. So in short: do you most often rechrome or simply polish?
Cheers
Ulrik