Hmm I am still on the wall with the powdercoating, but that goes torwards the debate of keeping the machine as original as possible or modding it for modern use. I can make my change from a modern p-stat back to the wobbler weight pretty easily but I cannot easily undo drilling the boiler flange or powdercoating the frame.

Nonetheless I am bringing the boiler in to my metal worker guy to fix up some stress cracks after soaking for a few days in citric acid. There is a little scale first but the worst of it is off and I like keeping the back cupric oxide on the boiler interior if possible. Since I am dropping off the boiler with him I'll also have him dig out the snapped screw and do the cracked water inlet housing. At some point I would like to learn how to do this myself but I do not want to mess it up with this nice machine.





I have some concerns with this small pipe that goes to the steam wand. It has some pretty deep gouges, but the gauge of the pipe is also pretty thick so I may be ok keeping it as is. I have a fitting on my President I could stick it on to test the tubing integrity.


If I were to go with the powdercoating route I would also get the little metal fittings done that hold the body panels together and secure the boiler to the frame from the top.

I decided to media blast and powder coat the frame + little bits. I experimentally started brushing portions of the frame to see what I could get off and a lot of what I thought was nicotine crud was actually rust. I am choosing to do this to ensure I get every bit of the frame cleaned up, though instead of the off-white colour I would normally get I will pick a gray similar to the original frame. Of course nothing on the exterior panelling is planned to be rechromed.

Sansibar99 wrote:I strongly oppose, as this machine is in such pristine condition, that it could keep its charme, history and, of course its financial worth so easily without any big effort.

I think cleaning the frame up is not the worst thing to do to a machine, especially if it is to ensure it assists in keeping the machine in a functional state for decades to come.

I got my new sonic cleaner, a 6L Vevor. It's quite bigger than my old Harbor Freight one, which I burned up during cleaning the Faema President bits and more powerful. I immediately set about de-scaling my fittings in citric acid. I was able to take off four out of the seven fittings from my steam valve and hot water/inlet valve before I decided to spray penetrating fluid and let them sit for a while. They were really gunked up, especially at the hot water fitting since water likely remained in the pipe after use. Fortunately my sonic cleaner made them nice and clean.







For the chrome bits I focused on getting the nicotine build up off using Glo-Joe to great effect. I was able to fit the lower group in the cleaner and at this point for most of the chrome bits they just need a little polishing or are already set. Some of the pieces like the preinfusion mechanism I did not know where chromed until after the cleaning! I even cleaned up the boiler flange pretty nicely. It appears to be iron or steel? A question I have is can I keep the cylinder in the group as is or should I take off the remaining chrome inside?






Finally, on the preinfusion rod there is a very small gasket, measuring 7x4x4mm. I can likely just stuff it with teflon tape but I am asking if there is somewhere I can buy a spare.

civ wrote: If not a gasket, maybe a set of one or more fat 'O' rings may do just as well.

BTW: when you use your vise to hold brass parts from your Faema, I suggest using a set of magnetic protective covers such as these:

https://www.mcmaster.com/1171N137/
This was the closest I got for a gasket, stacking them two at a time, from Mcmaster-Carr when looking earlier. I think you are right that an o-ring will probably work too.

I use some towels on my vise if I am gripping the brass body of the valve but I should probably get something more appropriate for actually holding soft metals like you suggest.

Hmm yea I like the concept of the clip on jaws. I'll check out the rubber faced ones.

Forgot to add the pic of the cylinder itself. It looks like it flaked away or rubbed away over time.

I got my boiler and some bits dropped off with my metal guy to fix up. The powder coating guy is on vacation so I will not have that done until at least 21 October when he gets back. The boiler flange is mailed off to Pascal for adaptation to accept a new element.

I finally got the bottom group fitting off after some soaking in penetrating oil and the arrival of a 28mm socket. It needed my 3 foot pipe wrench to wrestle loose but now I can do a final cleaning and polishing of the inside and exterior of the group body



The last thing at this point I need to take apart is the upper group assembly. The piston is stuck so I started letting it soak after a heating session with the propane torch. Hopefully I'll get it off soon to start its cleaning process. I can consider myself to be fully in the cleaning portion of this project and since I see what's apart I can place my parts order. The valves use the same gaskets as the E61/President and I have some leftovers from my past projects. The more esoteric stuff is the boiler and group gasket, which I do have a source for.

Project costs from what I am estimating will likely be around $1200 with everything including parts, tools, and labor purchased in the process, and that is a worst case estimate. This is still within my personal budget tolerance with the base cost of the Mercurio.