Summit Gold on the curb!!

Fridays here are garbage day and Thursday night as I rounded a corner down the street from home I noticed a grill by the curb.....a large grill. I backed up for a closer look and was shocked/surprised/excited to see a Weber Summit Gold in what appeared to be darn good shape. So I zipped the remainder of the way home, kissed the wife and told her that I'd be right back.....A little back story here.. We just Monday took delivery of a brand new Napoleon 500 after shopping about a month for a good quality grill so I was aware of the Weber Summits. Anyway, I speed walk back down around the corner and wheeled the behemoth back home, much to my wife's displeasure. "We just bought a new grill" she says. I calm her down and begin to assess the grill. Standing back and looking at it it appears in very nice condition. Wiped down the knob area, side shelves (that all work perfectly) and they're like new. I'm getting pretty excited. I lift the lid and the SS grates are all there (x3) and in used but very good condition. removing those I do find that the flavorizer bars and in pretty rough shape with one exhibiting some total rust through. But, knowing how pricey those are I set them aside instead of discarding to see if I can salvage them somehow. Now to the burners...they're there but two of the three cross-over bars are missing and it's obvious a new burner set is required. Also the igniter system doesn't seem to be working and the small gas collection boxes are all (x3) rusted away to pretty much nothing. If I can get the existing ignition system to fire I might just get replacement boxes instead of a completely new system but 3 of those appear to cost nearly as much as the replacement kit itself so we'll see.

I've done some reading here about the Summits having rust issues on the front of the firebox. This unit doesn't seem to be exhibiting this issue whatsoever. Looking up and under where the knobs are I can see that the gas tubes on this grill come through what looks to be a stainless panel that is in excellent condition (whew!).

The biggest concern with this grill is the lower shelf. It's pretty much shot from rust. The back panel too has some pretty severe rust at the bottom lip. In researching replacement parts I was happy to see that the bottom panel was still available but WOW, that price ($150+)!! Has anyone used a bottom from another model that might work? Seems that I read somewhere here that someone used a bottom from another model but I can't find that thread again now. Any DIY versions? I was considering making my own bottom with some scrap material laying around here or maybe getting something fabricated at a friends shop. He's going to media blast the flavorizer bars and cooking grates to clean them up some for me already. Doors are in perfect condition other than one doesn't operate properly due to the rotten bottom (really not an issue with the door itself. I think that one issue that has caused much of the rusting issue on these grills is the use of dissimilar metals. Never a wise idea.

Other than all of that, after I cleaned this grill up, it looks great. This is my first post here so I'm not versed in how to post images but I might do so once I figure out how.

Great site by the way. Very informative!!

Oh, by the way, the model number is 5270001. If someone could help me identify the specific model that would be great. I know only that it's a 6 burner model and I see B6, D6, etc. discussed here. Not 100% certain what I'm dealing with.

Thanks

Gord,
Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you have an amazing find. A Summit Gold with an intact, unrusted firebox is a cool thing for sure.

Rusting cabinets is definitely a continual problem. I have rehabbed a few newer Genesis 300 series grills all with that problem. My fix involved using high grade stainless replacement bottoms and backs made by a friend who owns a sheet metal shop. Sounds like you might have access to the same. That would be the class way to go. There are a number of articles on this site about rust repair and several rust converting products including POR-15 that might help if you have regular steel you can’t replace.

My advice is to take it slow and evaluate your options carefully. The burners and flavorizer bars are the heart of your grill and deserve highest priority. New flavorizers will cost you because of the unique design of that Summit.

For posting pictures, try Imgur or the one I use TinyPic.com. They are free but will bombard you with ads. It is fairly easy to upload the pictures, resize and copy the links into your posts. Pictures would be a huge plus for all of us to give you better advice.

Look forward to seeing what you picked up. Oh, and as far as your wife saying that you already have another grill, I passed that one up a dozen grills or so. Better look out or you might catch the fever, too!

Hi Gord,

you have a Summit Gold B6, which should be a 6 burner with a side burner, but not a roti or smoker box burner.

The only cabinet parts that will fit are others from the same series, Summit Silver, Gold and Platinum (Platinum has SS panels).

Side panels will fit from the 4 burners, but not the rear or base panels.

Where the burner tubes go through to the firebox is not SS.

Good catch!

Stephen R said:

Hi Gord,

Where the burner tubes go through to the firebox is not SS.

Good catch!

Click to expand...

If looking from the underside of the control panel where the igniter is I can see the tubes coming through what looks to be an unpainted metal panel. It looks brand new with no corrosion whatsoever. Is this the panel that can cause issues? If so I wonder if the former owner had it fixed/replaced.

Hi Gord,

what you are looking at is an SS trim/guide plate. Look from inside the firebox and you will see the black porcelain enamel coated steel that is what can rot out.

Take it apart, easy to work on.

Yep look from the inside. If it is rusted out all is not lost. Same with the cabinet. If the grill was never registered you can play "dumb" with Weber CS. "You forgot to register..........etc." Good news is I think the fire box is still available and perhaps the cabinet too. So you may be able to get those things for free.

Actually, you can register the grill yourself as long as the previous owner didn't already. I have maybe a dozen registered on my Weber account. Weber wants them registered if you inquire or order parts for them, so if I call about a grill, I always register it first so they can look up the info and know what parts you need or be able to answer questions.

Stephen R said:

Hi Gord,

what you are looking at is an SS trim/guide plate. Look from inside the firebox and you will see the black porcelain enamel coated steel that is what can rot out.

Take it apart, easy to work on.

Click to expand...

So when I look from the inside there is no black porcelain enamel coated panel. The SS panel that I can see from looking under where the controls are is the same panel visible from inside. Could it be that this was replaced at some point already? Maybe this flaw was something Weber realized and remedied the issue? I can tell you that the small igniter gas collection boxes are mounted directly to this panel as well and they are pretty much corroded away. Not sure what they are made from but I would assume carbon steel seeing how they have rotted away so severely.

Unless someone made a custom panel there is no way there is a stainless panel there from Weber as they have not even bothered to correct this on the brand new Summit grills. So I am really unsure what you've been seeing

Stephen R said:

Hi Gord,

what you are looking at is an SS trim/guide plate. Look from inside the firebox and you will see the black porcelain enamel coated steel that is what can rot out.

Take it apart, easy to work on.

Click to expand...

Would the little gas collection igniter boxes be mounted to this trim/guide plate?

Gord,

Pictures are worth a thousand words...Why don't you go ahead and get setup on Imgur or TinyPic.com and post some pictures? I am sure I am not the only one who is curious about what you have, but it is really hard to evaluate without being able to see. You may well be fortunate enough to have a grill where someone had a sheet metal shop fabricate a stainless replacement piece; that would sure be a home run!

Ok, Here goes my attempt at images.

Here are a couple shots of the grill itself. Looks really really nice!


Side shelves fully functional!!

Here is the side burner. It's like brand spanking new. I truly don't believe that it was every used.


Under the hood...


The rotted bottom....

I have the back taken off to assess the situation.

From inside where burners pass through. This is also the same panel that I can see looking from the outside looking up, under and behind the controls. The images appear upside-down as if you are leaning over looking back towards the front of the firebox. One image from each igniter location. You can see how shot the gas boxes are but the panel has zero corrosion.




Now....there is a panel above this where the flavorizer bars and grates rest that appears to be one piece bolted in on left and right with two nuts on either side. The lip you can see in the above images is the lower lip of that panel and where flavorizer bars rest.

I hope this helps you help me...

BTW: I got the grates and flavorizers media blasted and they came out great.

Hmm, it's been awhile since I did a resto on a Summit Gold. Old age made me forget what the cook box looked like. Here's a shot of a new one for a D6.





Anyways, Gord, while that Summit might not be perfect, it looks like it should clean up very nicely.

Hi Gord,
thank you for the pictures.

Please accept my apologies for misleading you. I am restoring a Summit from the series before (Series One if you like) and it has the tubes passing through the black steel where rot problems can occur.

Your Summit is the following model (Series Two, if you like) and (Checking my series two D6 a bit more carefully) yes, the burner tubes do only go through the SS guide panel and the igniters are also attached to the SS panel as well. This must have been the design change to avoid the rot problems of the Series one.

The rot concerns (other than the frame/panels) are the black steel east-west panel immediately above the SS panel, where the weldments and grates sit. This can rot, and also warp I have read to a point where the grates are not supported.

You can see a little of this in your photo of the SS panel, but yours look fine.

Absolute keeper of a grill.

Again, my apologies.

Stephen R said:

Hi Gourd,
thank you for the pictures.

Please accept my apologies for misleading you. I am restoring a Summit from the series before (Series One if you like) and it has the tubes passing through the black steel where rot problems can occur.

Your Summit is the following model (Series Two, if you like) and (Checking my series two D6 a bit more carefully) yes, the burner tubes do only go through the SS guide panel and the igniters are also attached to the SS panel as well. This must have been the design change to avoid the rot problems of the Series one.

The rot concerns (other than the frame/panels) are the black steel east-west panel immediately above the SS panel, where the weldments and grates sit. This can rot, and also warp I have read to a point where the grates are not supported.

You can see a little of this in your photo of the SS panel, but yours look fine.

Absolute keeper of a grill.

Again, my apologies.

Click to expand...

No apologies needed. I should have gotten images posted sooner to resolve this sooner. I'm glad that this unit doesn't have the major issue and I'll keep an eye on that panel that seems to exhibit a bit of corrosion already.

Seems to me that a major issue with this corrosion is due to dissimilar metals being used throughout these grills. That's a huge no-no as one metal will corrode preferentially to another that is more noble.

Series one Summit photos. (The model prior to yours Gord)



External, you can see how the heat stresses the black enamel





From inside the firebox where the burners pass through. No visible rot. No SS panel. Maybe the gunk from the previous owner protected it??

Thank you Gord for making me get a new way of posting photos...

DaveW said:

Here's a shot of a new one for a D6.

Click to expand...

Your image does not show up.

Gord,

Thank you for the informative pictures. I would say you have a real winner in great condition. Beyond taking good care of it and checking for issues occasionally, I think you just need to relax and use & enjoy your amazing find!

Gord Brink said:

Your image does not show up.

Click to expand...

Sorry about that. I forgot that I had the addon to get around the Photobucket BS.

Anyways, let's try again.

I’ve started digging into this behemoth. As mentioned the bottom was roached badly. The lower 1.5” of the back is pretty bad too. So those I’ve dropped off with a friend who is going to rebuild. Also too the flavorizers and those he plans on rebuilding while salvaging most. Only two were rusted through. The cross member was totally shot though. Fiddling with the igniter I found it to be operational! But the collection boxes Do need replacement and calling Weber it seems that I cannot simply purchase those alone. I must buy the entire igniter kit.