I am new here and profound apologies if I am asking a question posted elsewhere. I did several searches here and online, and watched several rebuild videos without success. I have a La Pavoni 1978 Europiccola I like very much and bought a newer Europiccola, sans portafilter, thinking it was a Millenium. It is clean, all chrome, and looks almost brand new. I didnt notice it was a pre-Millenium until I bought a Millenium portafilter and it didn't fit. I removed the plastic bottom and the machine is dated 1995. Then to make things more interesting, while polishing it up a bit I noticed the steam shaft tee bar has been pushed slightly into the boiler maybe 2-3mm all around. I am sure this is the case since there is also a slight crazing of the chrome there. I have no idea how that could happen. I ran the Europiccola on high and it seems to run fine. A couple of questions come to mind. How can I remove the steam shaft tee to replace its seals, and perhaps pull the dent out a little? I can't figure out how to get to that nut under the boiler shoulder. Or should I just replace the seals and leave the ding well enough alone? Does anyone know any obvious reasons for concerns, or things that should be checked, if there are no apparent fractures in the boiler? I couldn't find any references to boiler failures. Leaves me torn between buying a portafilter and giving it to my son, or junking it. Oh, does anyone want to trade a pre-Millenium portafilter for a Millenium portafilter?

Stash wrote:How can I remove the steam shaft tee to replace its seals, and perhaps pull the dent out a little?

You'll want to pull out gentle using the "tee" as leverage. Mine arrived to me pushed in when I received it from ebay and I was told to do the same HERE.

Stash wrote:I can't figure out how to get to that nut under the boiler shoulder. Or should I just replace the seals and leave the ding well enough alone?

If you want to remove it, you need to remove the element and attack from the inside. With out having any replacement seals on hand, I wouldn't go this route. You will also require a box ended wrench with an offset handle.

Stash wrote:Leaves me torn between buying a portafilter and giving it to my son, or junking it. Oh, does anyone want to trade a pre-Millenium portafilter for a Millenium portafilter?

DO NOT JUNK IT!!! It can be fixed, especially if your problem is the same as mine in the link I provided (which wasn't a problem after all) And, depending on the price, I and a few others here may be interested in your pre-millenium portafilter.

Thanks for your great reply and link, Lyndon. Don't know how I managed not to find it in my searching. The damage to my Europiccola looks almost exactly like the one in the picture at the link you posted. Sounds like La Pavoni should be reinforcing the upper boiler in that area. Looking at the sellers photo, I can see the steam tee is not quite square, and as it looks like the seller knows less about these machines than even I, I doubt there is much room for me to complain. I paid $160 and it really does look practically new, and since most of the comments were encouraging, maybe I will play with it a bit though I am not sure about giving it as a gift. Will also give some thought to making a wrench to fit the nut. None of my metric offsets will fit into the space. Years ago, when I worked on cars, I had a similar problem and I cut a socket shorter and ground off part of the socket sidewall so it could fit around three sides of a recessed and angled nut. Maybe do that and use a tiny breaker bar, hold the nut still and turn the tee ......

I can see that I am going to be lying in bed tonight pondering steam tees and that two finger straightening maneuver.

The portafilter that I bought erroneously, and I have no use for is a Millenium portafilter, guess I should go check out the marketplace also. Thanks again to everyone for their responses. Charles

As an aside, if a future reader is interested, I found a way to hold the nut on the steam shaft tee so that I was able to remove it and then replace it. It would probably work for the safety valve inner nut as well. Admittedly, it is inelegant, but expeditious for first echelon maintenance if a little diligence is employed. I used a pair of tiny channel locks that Sears now sells as Craftsman Ignition Pliers 9-4513. They fit inside the filler neck nicely without damaging the threads and open just wide enough to grasp the retaining nut. Yes, I cringe at using pliers on nuts but I could not find a box, open end, crows foot or socket wrench that would fit in the filler mouth and work at the angle needed. The pliers teeth are very fine and marked the brass nut very little. I was able to achieve the tightening by rotating the steam steam tee while holding the nut with one or two small position changes. I recommend a having a set of these in any tool kit. In the dusty past, when I was a nurse, I employed them to disconnect IV tubing whose little plastic twist fittings were stuck tight from solutions containing glucose and the like.