Zacconi Riviera Eagle Restoration

[RenaissanceCoffee]

I am moving this post here from the lever sub.

Hi everyone: first time poster, long time reader/lurker. I've undertaken a project to restore and rebuild a vintage Zacconi Riviera eagle. I've already deacaled it and restored most of the exterior to its former glory and I am pulling some top notch ristretto in my work office. I'm very happy with the progress of the machine, but while disassembling and cleaning I can see some of the gaskets are starting to deteriorate. So I have a few questions...


Does anyone know where I can get a complete set of gaskets are seals I'd like to just take the whole thing apart clean it inside and out and I think it makes sense if I'm going to do that to replace all of them. I've found them online, but I'm not sure on this machine how to tell how old it is. It is a 47mm portafilter so it's an older machine but is there a way to be more specific before I order parts?

Thank you so much for all of your help

Where it started


Where I am at currently

[bgnome]

I have a Riviera Espresso (Zacconi Baby) manual lever and a Sama (Ponte Vecchio) Export. The manual Zacconi uses 49mm while the Sama, which is comparable to the Zacconi spring-driven levers, is a 45mm. Have you tried to remove the piston yet?

My understanding is that the spring-driven ones generally have the 3-seal pistons and are compatible with the Elektra piston seals, even though the Elektra uses 49mm baskets. I am not sure if there are gaskets from other machines that are compatible, but I have recently seen a selection on eBay that are available for spring-driven Zacconis.

[RenaissanceCoffee (original poster)]

I have not was hoping to use it until the parts arrived

My portafilter is 47m

[RenaissanceCoffee (original poster)]

Oh and it is spring driven

[RenaissanceCoffee (original poster)]

Hello:

On my restoration bench is a Zacconi Riviera Eagle of unknown era. I had it working for 4-5 months but then the seals started leaking from the group head. Im finding a lot of conflicting information online about the seals, so I'm wondering if someone can help me out and tell me where I can order a set of new seals. I have already had the group head apart and put it back together.

[kalo925]

Hi. If you just need the 3 piston seals I have some I ordered from Italy a few years ago. Sold the machine and had 3 piston gaskets and a level glass left over. I'd sell the 3 piston gaskets, $32+. Otherwise order from https://lamacchinadelcaffe.com/ Seems like he has a complete kit for ~$68 + shipping or 3 piston seals and a pf gasket for $44 + shipping. PM me if you want mine. I can ship them tomorrow. I remember changing out the spring but it was too long. I think the one on ebay is too long, so use caution if you ever want to do that. I had to grind the new one down. I wish I had just put a smaller diameter spring inside the original spring. Studied it some and I'm sure it would work. Also I remember my pf gasket was only like 2 mm think, I see the one he is selling is 5 mm. I'd be wondering about that, but depends on what yours measures if you need one. An extra 3 mm would make a difference on how the PF gets seated, or if it might be too tight.