I've wanted a project lever for awhile so when Pascal (Zeb) has one of this for sale I couldn't pass it up. After trying to arrange convenient timing for both of us, this arrived couple weeks ago. I've progressed a bit further but I thought I'll document the whole process.

I wasn't really sure what I was getting into, this machine is 50+ years old and I've worked mostly on newer machines.



The Fedex guy showed up after 5 days of shipping from France, amazing considering I've had slower shipment in the US. The whole crate was less than 100 lbs so we just carry it off the truck.



Pascal did really good job packing and crating the machine. I had to partially dissasemble the crate to get it out.



The machine actually seems to be in pretty good state and complete.



There are some surface rusts on the iron frame but the body is quite nice.



The worst part cosmetically seems to be just the chrome flaking off on top of the group. It is missing the front CONTI badge though and I am not sure whether this one is still made in France or Monaco.

Machine has 7 bolt boiler which I have never seen before. All the other Princess I've seen has 9 bolt. We'll have to do custom gasket on this but there is no sign of leak so far.
The 4 bolt heating element seems compatible with newer Conti.



The element itself appears to be in good shape, with proper resistance for 1200 W. I imagine it would take awhile to heat up the rather large boiler.



Looking from the heating element inside the boilers it seems that there are some scale inside but mostly loose sandy deposits.



Looking down inside the group head it seems to be in good shape as well.

Very nice condition. Looking forward to seeing this come back to life as I've always liked the way they look.

The group came off without much effort at all after undoing all 4 nuts on the front.



The spring and piston also appears to be inpretty good shape. The piston gasket actually still pliable, I think Pascal said this might have been functioning machine recently.

The bolt pattern on the group boiler to group gasket seems to be same as newer 4 bolt lever as well. One thing that puzzles me is that there seems to be no check valve on this machine (or other vintage lever???). I think modern lever has one built into the group, I wonder how the water does not flow back into the boiler when the piston is pressed down?

Made a few more progress since then.



Since the heating element was good I thought about wiring it and and just try to see if it is working. However I decided to open some of the fitting and look inside. It is full of sand/debris and it would have been disaster since the same fitting feeds into p-stat and pressure gauge.



So I decided to remove the lines and off it goes to ultrasonic bath.



After I am sure the lines and fitting are clear I put them back again but I also added a new generic gauge since I dont trust the original gauge and the Sopac p-stat. I also added a vacuum breaker since the machine did not come with one.



While it is heating up I kept monitoring the current draw on the heating element, it seems spot on for 1300 W element on it.



In the end it would heat up and it does build pressure. The group head drips a bit but I was able to pull a shot. However tempting it may be I decided that I shouldn't drink it just yet.

Started tearing down the machine now, everything comes apart quite easily, surprisingly.



The hardest part probably to remove the stud from the boiler. I took my time and let it soak with some PB blaster and use propane torch.



Now off to get the frame powdercoated and the tank sandblasted.

Those studs are a nightmare. I had to take mine to a metal shop and have them heated till cherry red and removed. I put stainless studs back in. I hated how they had no backing on mine, so you'd try to set the depth that was appropriate, use some loctite and pray.

It took me couple days to soak and heat it up but I was lucky enough to get all of them out. I did not want to use penetrating oil at first but I didn't really have other option.

I finally ran into first major issue, one of the valve body for steam/water tap had a crack on it, I think it was probably over tightened or poor casting to begin with. Those valve actually uses metric fitting and not available anymore. The Princess uses the same valve for the steam and water tap as well as the manual fill valve.



I found out that Legris (part of Parker now) makes metric compression fitting. Legris was a French company I think so I wonder if there is some sort of connection why Conti uses many metric fitting as opposed to BSP.

I ended up brazing the fitting for now and since the crack is on the outlet side I will just use it for water tap where it is not really pressurized.

boost wrote: One thing that puzzles me is that there seems to be no check valve on this machine (or other vintage lever???). I think modern lever has one built into the group, I wonder how the water does not flow back into the boiler when the piston is pressed down?

The piston seals block off the inlet holes as the piston is lowered.