Hello everyone! First off I have been a lurker for a few weeks now and love the info here! I just bought my first weber ots over the weekend and cooked two days straight Im in love and already have the weber sickness. I found a $50 97 EI as red performer on craigslist last night and had to bring it home.

Im sure i paid more then its worth but the lady was set on the price. So here is the scoop she is ugly been abused but not to far from being able to restore. The big problems are the one touch system is missing the ash catcher is missing as well as the charcoal grate. There is some paint rusting and one minor hole maybe a pencil tip size near a weld on the inside grate. And the handle came off the lid after I bought it ugh. But there is good to be had here! The propane system is all there with 5lb bottle still has gas in it :-) cart is in great shape and lid vent is still working great as well. Oh and thermometer is working too! I know its a big project but Im in love and can't help but see the beauty under the dirt. It will take some work a lot of cleaning and some painting to stop the rust further but she is home now in the right hands.

Here are the Pics
Side with rust



Other Side with Small hole



Lid Vent





I Have it in a high heat burn now to get the grime off so tomorrow I can go to work on it. Plus I had to use the propane to start the coals I couldn't resist it. 5 minutes to red coals is a great feature!

Congrats on your score Michael and welcome to the gang. Sorry to say you pics didn't post on my end. Maybe it's on my end.

I think the site doesn't like my picasa links will try again. Thanks very much mac!

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Bromley:
I think the site doesn't like my picasa links will try again. Thanks very much mac!

I've wanted to try Picasa for posting. If you get it to cooperate let me know how you did it.
Thanks

Ok a fix for now until I figure out the picasa thing.

http://yfrog.com/05picsay1283931016j

http://yfrog.com/04picsay1283930792j

http://yfrog.com/5ppicsay1283930837j

http://yfrog.com/jvpicsay1283931271j

http://yfrog.com/14picsay1283931306j

I have no Idea what this is I dont believe its a weber part but you guys may

http://yfrog.com/j4picsay1283930751j

Sorry for the links I will work on the Photo posting process

Any info on getting that krud off would be great too Is Easy off ok on the inside?

The last picture looks like a drain screen. Anyway nice find!

Yeah...I agree with Rick on the charcoal grate, its certainly not what the grill came with. You can get one of those cheap though. You can use Simple Green or Easy Off with a "0000" steel wool to clean the inside and outside of the kettle lid and bowl. It won't scratch your red enamel at all. No recommendations for the rust on the enamel though. Haven't seen a good high temp paint yet that will match the red exactly. Use a good stainless steel cleaner on your tables.

Michael,
After you have built your folder of pictures in your local copy of Picasa, turn on "Sync to Web" to upload them to your web albums.
In Picasa's Web interface, select the picture you want to post.
Click "Link to this Photo."
Select the size you want from the "Select Size" dropdown.
Choose "Image Only (no link)"
Click the text in the "Embed Image" text box, that will highlight it (it will turn blue).
Press Ctrl + C on your keyboard to copy the highlighted text to the clipboard.
In the TVWBB message box, click the Photo icon, and paste the text into it.
Click "OK"
Done

P.S. Where is Charlotte?

It's true,
Picture "are" worth a thousand words. I don't feel you over paid for your "Project". You've got a good foundation to start with. After you get it all cleaned up, take inventory of what's missing or not working and give Weber CS a call @ 1-800 466-1071. They'll help you out with any parts or info you might need. As for the parts this should help you if you don't already have it.
http://www.weber.com/PublicSch...x?all=1&model=821001
Have fun with it. and don't dispare, you can think of this Forum as a BIG support group. And the reward at the end will well worth it. The Redheads are getting harder to find.

Charles Thanks for that picasa overview I will give that a Shot I tired the embed image last night but not Image only which makes sense now! Oh Charlotte north of Dickson or South of Ashland City or south east of Clarksville or 5o miles west of Nashville.

Jeff I will be going and grabbing some steel wool today and Mean Green I'm glad someone confirmed it wont scratch the enamel.

Mac I'm already thinking I got a deal for $50 because she is already coming up nicely and the tiny hole didn't have any smoke or anything coming out last night in the burn. I'm going to try and pick up a charcoal grate and One touch system on clearance because my wife is already worried about my addiction. Maybe in a few weeks and she sees the final product she will let me get the rest of the parts from weber ha!

I panicked last night in the high heat burn I got it ripping hot and walked inside for a few minutes to come back out and see it was brown! Thought I ruined my Red Enamel so I closed the vents to help cool it down some and it came back to red whew! Then I read a post of someone saying the same thing and it is the nature of the paint so I wont panic anymore

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Bromley:

I panicked last night in the high heat burn I got it ripping hot and walked inside for a few minutes to come back out and see it was brown!

It's that special "Chameleon" color.

Hey guys just a quick update the redhead turned out great! I think i've cooked over 10 meals in a weeks time easily. My first cook was homemade grilled flat bread with spicy shrimp and raspberry glazed onions, pork steaks, portabella mushrooms, potatoes and corn. All in stages of course but wow does that thing cook great I'm finally trusting my heat control skills and its getting better with each cook. I will post some pictures when the whole project is done. Im adding onto the table to make a dual grill setup and gas burner for sides/more work area. All im missing is the ash catcher.on the performer and its complete again. I should have the project done this weekend hopefully!

What kind of enamel did you use. I have a blue OTG I want to repaint. I've seen some high heat engine enamel that will go 500F but hear you need to use the ceramic enamel that will go 1000F or something.

Thanks.