# Restoration of a La Pavoni P67



## IamOiman (Nov 13, 2018)

This is the second of two concurrent topic threads I'll be doing to account for the two machines that arrived today!

After two weeks in Portuguese customs I finally received my La Pavoni P67. I was specifically keeping an eye out for this model after missing one on sale a few years back, and I am very excited to learn new skills from it. It is in need of some work cosmetically and functionally, and all the bits and bobs are present except for the power switch knob. Even the original asbestos is present and even though it is in shockingly good condition the Pavoni will not come inside until it is removed properly and safely 😎

I'll probably need to rechrome the hot water wand and steam wand but I hope to keep everything else original if possible.
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## Rincewind (Aug 25, 2020)

Yippeeeeee another resto....can't wait Ryan....i just love your work and what you do 😎


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## IamOiman (Nov 13, 2018)

*Note: Asbestos can be dangerous to work with. If in doubt consult a hazardous waste expert regarding removal and disposal.*

Some delayed response as I worked on the Lambro and the wait for a nice windy day to take off the asbestos. I wore goggles, a P100 filter mask, and had ample water while removing the asbestos from the three red panels on the Pavoni. The asbestos required a paint scrapper, with the rear panel being the easiest to take off while the side panels were more difficult to chip away due to some rust. I immediately changed clothes after and showered to minimize any fibers from exposing me. The asbestos was stored in a bag then bagged a further two times along with any other materials that touched asbestos directly, and shall be disposed of as dictated by my town code.

If I keep the panels in original condition I will cover the inside surface with a clearcoat silicone sealant to trap any potential lingering fibers. For the time being they are being stored enclosed in plastic bags.

















To take off these panels there is a screw on each side of the front. Taking it off allows the side panels to slip out. The rear panel requires the frame for the panels to be partially disassembled. There are two L-brackets on top securing the pieces with three screws each. There are a further six screws on the lower part of the panel frame, two per side. Unscrewing all of them allows the panel frame to be taken off the machine and further disassembled into individual pieces, but more importantly allows the rear red panel to be taken off. The scews are in poor condition but luckily I could remove them all.

























The boiler and pipes appear to be in decent condition. I will have a horrible interesting time removing the heating element bolts but the boiler lid and group bolts do not look too rusty. I will need to ensure I do not break the aluminum rings as unlike Faema machines the Pavoni rings are essentially unobtanium as spares. The machine is configured without a p-stat, rather there is a high-low configuration installed for 1kW and 300W for a total of 1300W. It appeared to be primarily used as a gas powered machine. The capped off fitting on the manometer side is presumably where the p-stat pipe would connect. This means I will get to make a new pipe for the first time!









































I did not see a stamp on the boiler but the heating elements are dated from April of 1967. The group has an ID of L1147 on the neck and a serial number of SC 3550 (or maybe 3559) on the tag.


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## Rincewind (Aug 25, 2020)

EXTRA kudos for the disclaimer at the top of ☝ that post 👏


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## IamOiman (Nov 13, 2018)

I have been experimentally testing to see how difficult it would be to remove the fittings and bolts on the Pavoni. So far everything loosens with a light rap of a dead strike hammer. Many of the fittings and bolts are 17mm at quite a surprising percentage.

I took off the upper group. There are two chromed screws on each side of the decorative lever cap and four allen bolts securing the upper group to the lower group that need a 4mm allen wrench. The upper group slorped out with some residual water in the group and it is quite caked in grease. I would not recommend the amount the prior owner slathered on it 😉 . The sleeve inside looks really good and I will keep it as is. The shutoff valve came off without hassle as well. The piston has two holes on the bottom like my Boema and my Bosco. I will see if I can get a proper tool to unscrew it if there is difficulty removing the lever pin to fork.

































The two handles come off by loosening a screw on the side of each handle and then pulling them out. The steam and hot water wands will be rechromed.


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## IamOiman (Nov 13, 2018)

The group comes off with four M10 chromed nuts (17mm heads). A light tap with a mallet releases the group from the gasket. It measures to be 55 x 25mm, which is wider in OD than the spare one sold by others (45 x 25mm). The dipper appears to unsrew from the back but I am hesistant to attempt taking it off after seeing another machine's dipper get sheared off. The M10 flange bolts appear to be in good condition and I plan on reusing them if possible.

























All the pipes came off from the boiler afterwards along with the valves, manometer, and water level. Note the hot water valve has two thread sizes while the steam tap has a single size. Once everything is off the backsplash simply pops off.

































Finally, the boiler may be removed from the frame. It is connected via two bolts to the frame and also one bracket to the boiler lid. All of the boiler nuts could be taken off, and with some tapping of the mallet the lid popped off. Looking inside there is not very much scale at all! I hope to remove as many fittings remaining on the lid and boiler as I can, and also take off the heating elements. More to come in the following week.


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## cuprajake (Mar 30, 2020)

Wow,

Id love to have the time to do what you're doing.. cant wait to see the results


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## IamOiman (Nov 13, 2018)

So far it's just the easy bits that yielded to my wrenches, now it's time for the frozen bits, hopefully without too many broken bolts 😉


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## IamOiman (Nov 13, 2018)

I've been working on getting all the bolts and fittings off the boiler and boiler lid. I was able to take off the boiler to group M10 bolts pretty easily, however when I began working on the heating element bolts I ran into my first significant roadblock. I'd been letting the bolts soak for a bit and I've been heating the bolts from the inside of the lid where their threads lie to see if I could loosen them up.

It worked for one bolt, the other five beat me. I probably should have stopped at some point but I was a little stubborn, which may cost me. The good news is the snapped bolts stick out enough from the flange I can fit a pair of vise grips. When I get the heating elements off and soak the lid in its acid bath I will see if I can coax the studs out with extra heat. If that fails I am finally faced with a drilling and tapping situation after seven projects!
















The water level is pretty simple, just two elbow fittings with a circuilar nut that compresses the gasket against the sight glass. They still make the gaskets and glass since the Pavoni P90 uses this same assembly. I got it apart by fixing the round nut in the vise and using a 24mm wrench to unscrew the elbow fitting.
















I ordered a face spanner tool set for the piston. I'll be working on that when it arrives but I hope it does not take much coaxing to unscrew that piston, mostly due to how well lubricated the shaft is 😉


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## IamOiman (Nov 13, 2018)

I got all the valves disassembled while working on the Lambro in tandem. When I loosened the 23mm nut holding the hot water and steam valve, to my surprise I discovered the internals are the old style screw cams seen on early Faema and Gaggia valves. There is a large strand of roped hemp material packed into the 23mm nut, and a 7mm nut to keep the valve gasket in place I have not measured the gasket for it but I bet I can find something for this. It is pretty cool this valve design was still in use even in the late 60's.

























The water inlet yielded to me on the vise. The pipe is stuck due to scale buildup, but the inside of the inlet is pretty simple, with a spring loaded valve and one gasket.


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## IamOiman (Nov 13, 2018)

Another tool arrives on the doorstep! It's a nice face spanner tool with swappable metric sized pinions. I think it is used for vehicles, but I got it for the piston disassembly and will also be useful on my Boema. It is much bigger than I thought, that square hole is for a 1/2" drive if you need more leverage and the base tool is already a foot long!








I heated up the piston and struck it on the face with a mallet before I placed the upper group in the vise by the bearing bolts. The hole size is 5mm on the piston face, and with a nice firm tug the tool worked perfectly and the piston began unscrewing. The mountains of grease likely keep the threads of the rod and piston in pristine condition, and when I started unscrewing the piston a strong smell reminding me of an oily smell seen on museum ships entered my sinuses. I placed a few zip ties but it was not needed as the thread is longer than the fully relaxed spring.
















With the piston and spring off I could take off the bearing bolts with a 17mm deep socket wrench. This allows the lever fork to be maneuvered up and out of the upper group casting with the two-piece rod. The rod pin has a knurled end, so I did a light tap on the opposite side to release the fork from the rod assembly.

































There is another pin to take out between the lower rod and the upper rod with two bushings along with the internal ball bearings in the upper group casting, but I will clean off the mountains of grease before proceeding. Modern Astoria CMA seals work with this piston, so I intend to get the silicone ones from Cafelat when possible. The spring can also be replaced by the modern 140mm spring on Pavonis and CMA machines if needed.








At this point it's just the boiler and machine frame that need some more work before everything is apart, and then I can begin the cleaning process. The parts order is mostly assembled, just need to confirm one or two things before proceeding forward.


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## IamOiman (Nov 13, 2018)

I stripped the rest of the Pavoni frame today. It's really nicely thought out in where the bolts are located. Note the frame is comprised of an upper and lower frame, the latter holding the gas assembling, drain tray, power switch, and water inlet, while the upper frame holds the boiler and panels.

It was all M8 bolts, and while rusted they came out without issue. I could then take off all the remaining bits except for one foot (again?!). At least my Boema's two remaining feet are already off 😂 . Historically getting my frame powdercoated could affect the panels going back on due to the added thickness from the powdercoat (this was worst for me on the Mercurio in terms of impact). However for the Pavoni I am 95% confident this would not affect me since the upper panels have a small gap in the first place to fit onto the frame, so this leeway is where the powdercoating layer will go (if that makes sense). The colours will be grey for the upper frame and black for the lower frame.

































A last thought is the piston. I cleaned it up and got some measurements for it as a friend wanted to confirm some measurements on a prior-gen grouphead he has for seal purposes. It's unlikely it is compatible but it does not hurt to check.


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## IamOiman (Nov 13, 2018)

The boiler flange is not playing nice with me, so I put it in time out and a soak in ATF to work on getting the heating elements out. In the meanwhile I tackled the nasty task of getting all the grease off the group pieces. This is a multistep process that can be summarized as the following:
1. Wipe off as much grease as I can
2. Use a degreaser like GUNK Engine Cleaner
3. Rinse and wash parts in ultrasonic cleaner with Joe Glo or related coffee cleaner
4. Repeat as necessary

I first needed to take off the second, smaller pin connecting the two rod pieces and the bearings. After a quick heating the grease acted as a lubricant and I could very lightly tap them all out without hassle. The pin is the same diameter as the one going into the lever fork but shorter in length. The bearings are tiny compared to the Faema or Boema ones, and one is made in Germany and the other in Italy. If I really needed to they could be reused. After I proceed to hand wipe the grease. It was not fun and I could not take many pictures due to how much got on my hands.

























Step 2: Degreaser. Note I was cleaning some Lambro parts in tandem so you may see some Faema parts in the mix.









Step 3: Ultrasonic Cleaner. The sticker absolutely needed to be preserved so I never let it touch the water.

















I was very pleased with the outcome, and everything is nice and clean. Note the little markings noting where the knurled part of the pin lies on both the lever fork and lever rod.

























Once small concern is a hole I discovered in the upper group casting that holds the fork and bearings. I believe I am ok because the cylinder is not load bearing and simply guides the lever rod.

















The lever fork has a damaged thread as well that I will need to repair/re-tap. It is the same thread as modern Astoria levers (like my Bosco, which I tested this theory with).


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## IamOiman (Nov 13, 2018)

duplicate post


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## John Yossarian (Feb 2, 2016)

It all looks fantastic. The hole concern should not be an issue as it seems the hole was machined on purpose (I struggle to get the rational though). The ball bearing looks re-usable (after all it has not been under enormous stress). Good progress, however greasy 😀

Have a good Easter!


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## IamOiman (Nov 13, 2018)

John Yossarian said:


> Have a good Easter!


 Thanks, I wish the same to you!


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Interesting post, I enjoyed reading it.....thanks


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## IamOiman (Nov 13, 2018)

Thank you! I post so others may see what may be involved with these machines from the mundane to 'oh sh*t!' territory.

The frame is fully stripped and I can send it to the powdercoaters, but in the process I accidentally popped out the rubber foot from its bolt so I will need to get it back on. I will wait for my Lambro to be fully stripped then I can place one big order for the powdercoating.








I have all of the gasket sizes sourced for the Pavoni except for one: the packing gland of the steam/hot water valves. I measured it to be 20x9x15 mm, and even if I used three 20x9x5 mm gaskets these would not be common. I could instead pack it with hemp, does anyone here prefer a specific product for this purpose?

One little amusing thing I saw was the Pavoni inlet rod uses the same gaskets as my Gaggia LL/Tell valves, a 15x6x3.5mm gasket and two 2015 o-rings. The Pavoni rod is above and a Gaggia rod is below.








The boiler and lid have been soaking in my bucket of citric acid. I knocked out the heating elements with a pin and mallet. Also note I said one was 300W and 1000W. In fact they are both 650W. 
















I took the lid out after about a day to take off the fittings. This is one of the rare times I prefer a close fitting crescent/adjustable wrench over my regular 21mm wrench for the 3/8" BSP fittings because it has more leverage for me to use, and it is not offset like my socket wrenches from the head of the fittings (which can be an issue if exerting large forces). I get the wrench to be as tight as possible and wack it on the end with a strong strike. With the lid clamped into my vise I got four of the five fittings off. The last elbow fitting will be an odd one to take out as there is no flat surface to grasp it with a wrench. That one may need some thought.
























You can already see I will have a tough fun time with the 5 snapped bolts. The boiler face looks pretty and I hope to clean it up well after.


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## IamOiman (Nov 13, 2018)

I re-tapped the thread in the lever fork and lever for the Pavoni. As stated earlier it is identical to modern Astoria/CMA groups: M16 x 1.5 thread. Before I could not screw the lever in due to the damaged thread but that is now fixed. While looking at the photos I would like the opinion of others one whether the lever should be rechromed due to the many speckles of rust where the plating has come off. I am unsure whether to through with that or not as I do not want the lever to look 'off' with the rest of the group. The lever fork should be cleaned up after a polish at the neck where the lever screws in, and the rest of the fork is mostly obscured by the decorative cap.

















I've been trying to get the boiler fittings off still. I succeeded with the t-fitting on the group flange but the other three remaining fittings will not budge. My minimum goal is to at least have the hot water connection fitting to come off. I hate leaving the original hemp cord sealant but I really do not want to bend or damage the soldered fitting joints in the boiler that the fittings screw into. The boiler lid I gave to my metal guy to remove the sheared off element bolts, I want it done correctly and even if I wanted to I do not have a big enough drill press to drill out the bolts and retap myself (if it came to that).
















I have been looking at the panel frame for the exterior. I am not seeing much damage or scratches. I saw only two very small dents that can be observed only when looking closely in the pic, and the majority of scratches are on top, presumably from something that rested on the machine at some point. I think I will simply wash the frame and keep it as is.


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## Batir (Nov 5, 2021)

Tengo pavoni p67 funcionando que me gustaría vender.


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## Batir (Nov 5, 2021)

Quiero vender la Pavoni P67


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Hola,

Para esto, hasta hacer una entrada en los anuncios (Classifieds).

Buena surte!

(Excuse my Spanish).


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