IamOiman wrote:I am still debating to keep the original paint but I am definitely leaning towards it.

For authenticity, you wouldn't want to remove the tell-tale signs of atmospheric re-entry showing its arrival from Mars, would you?

I'll admit the mystery crust (possibly old asbestos?) will come off as it do be looking a little sus

I did a lot of degreasing and washing today. The upper group parts were cleaned up in a degreaser, and some residual crud still has to come off but they are in a much better state now. I also washed the body panels as best I could. They are in decent condition and I will be finishing off the process with some autosol because there are some odd marks on the panels that I hope will come off. The soapy water was quite dirty in the end.




However I am posting primarily because I happily discovered the grille pieces to be made of solid brass. This means I could wash them up and use my buffer to get them shiny again. They are not perfect, but I actually like the marks to show the age where some small divots or scratches are present.

I am so far getting thwarted by the stuck sleeve and shutoff fittings on the group. They are quite frozen in place, and the amount of force I am starting to exert on them is getting a little ridiculous. Looking at the sleeve more closely, it has been soaking in penetrating oil (inserted via the upper part of the sleeve) for almost two weeks now, and I have heated the sleeve four times now followed by a cooling in the snow we have plenty of around here (Sunday unexpectedly dropped more snow than anticipated!). Each time I did this I attempted to unscrew the sleeve.


I am showing the setup of the tool to unscrew the sleeve. I am using a foot length of 1/2"-13 SAE threaded rod with fender washers on each end. The upper part that secures the tool assembly to prevent any slippage is a modified 1 1/2" to 1/2" Schedule 40 PVC pipe adapter that allows the fender washers to fit snugly inside the pipe. I currently do not have the group secured outside of my weight, but with the way things are going it might need additional support. I note when using my tool I am not exerting the potential amount of force since the group starts to move a little against my weight, so that honestly might be the culprit.






I guess I am really posting to ask if this amount of force required to begin unscrewing is a common 'feature' with the sleeve and shutoff valve

The sleeve is still stuck, but I did manage to get the radiator fitting off. I did more heating cycles followed by a quick cooling with water, and today the fitting gave up finally. I was basically stepping on the boiler as I was exerting the needed torque to begin unscrewing it with the 8mm square bit, and I am happy I got it off because these gaskets are just absolutely nasty. I don't want them in my espresso thanks! The threads look pretty good so I guess it was just really adhered on with the old gasket hemp.






I am also going to Italy after postponing the original trip by a month (16 January was the expected start), and while I am there I am giving my metal guy a few tasks to complete for me while I am enjoying myself. One of the many things I will be doing is going to MUMAC and meet Enrico Maltoni for the first time among other things!

Oh good for you Ryan -- I will be doing both as well next time I am over there. I would love to see the collection at MUMAC.

This will be the last update before Italy.

I was able to sneak in a few last things today before my trip. I removed the studs from the chrome feet with the double nut method. I plan to clean up the original bolts and screws and see what I can salvage, so I cleaned the candidates in Purple Power and will use Evaporust when I return from Italy.





I also removed the group sleeve finally with the assistance of my metal guy. We mounted the group on an L bracket piece and clamped that bracket in a vise so the necessary force could be used the loosen the sleeve. It is definitely a nasty piece of work, covered in crud and penetrating oil. The gasket was a nightmare to remove, and in the end I had to burn the remainder of it off. In the process the shutoff nut was removed too, although the rod itself is tangled in some scale deposits (I can wiggle it but cannot get it out fully) so I will descale it when I get back as I have run out of citric acid.











However the sleeve did clean up nicely! It can still secure the showerscreen so I will keep it as is.



I also made good progress on other parts. The frame and brackets (not counting the two rod pieces since those are still being worked on) are all cleaned and coated in the high temp silver paint. The dent in the lower skirt piece was fixed too. It involved some custom made hammers and some grunt work to bend the metal back. It was wanting to spring back to the dented shape and needed encouraging to return to the normal shape. My metal guy was surprised at how much it fought him. The snapped boiler bolts were all removed and now the wacky re-tapped hole is being addressed. Finally, I removed the round tap rod assembly by borrowing my metal guy's lathe chuck.

I got some big stuff done since I got back from Italy

The most important task completed was the boiler repair. Four snapped bolts were removed, including one on the boiler lid. The three snapped bolts on the boiler were taken off by welding a nut to the ends of the remaining stud, and the heat from the weld allowed the bolts to loosen out from the thermal shock. The boiler lid stud was stubborn, so it was drilled and tapped out instead. Looking more closely at the lid after cleaning it up, the interior shows where the old style of two heating elements were marked out for drilling the holes out, including where the thread plugs would be added. Really neat stuff I think




The shoddy M10 threaded hole was replaced in a similar manner to the Gaggia Internazionale fix, where a brass plug with the correct M8 x 1.25 thread was brazed into a milled hole. It was really neat to see how it was done, there was a lot of heat absorbed by the boiler and it took 30 minutes to cool off! It is definitely a skilled ability to be able to make these brazes without damaging the piece or affecting other welds. I also cleaned up the boiler exterior with a wire wheel.











With the boiler fixed I then cleaned out the threads of the boiler with a tap. There was a lot of rusty gunk removed from the old bolts. At this point I could successfully insert bolts in all of the holes and was left satisfied.









The last thing to report is the frame rod was successfully mated into one piece, I am very pleased it was saved! Now I can look into getting the needed gaskets that I cannot normally purchase.

Hi Ryan,

It is a little hard to tell, but did some prior abuser beat on the inside of the boiler to descale it or something?

cheers,

Stephen

those weird little dents seem common on these machines, so it is a possibility that did happen on this guy at some point since I do see a few here