Restoration Projects. 1992 Genesis 1 and Late '80's Genesis 2


 

G Schafer

TVWBB Pro
I am restoring a couple of old Weber Genesis grills, and a quick Google search for info brought me here.

I have three genesis redheads, one is inherited from my father. It was a Christmas present to Dad from Mom in the '80s. I remember helping put it together, and it was the first Weber gas grill I had ever seen.

The second was a Christmas present from my girlfriend back in '92. Of course, I married her the next summer! In addition to the swing up table and work surface on the left, both narrow slats, the right side had a wire basket that you were supposed to put your spices and sauces in while you were grilling.

The third was rescued from the dump several years ago by a friend who worked as a Sanitation Engineer in a well to do area. It's similar to Dad's except it has a side burner instead of the work surface on the right side. It is kind of a Frankengrill because a lot of parts were missing, so other parts were used, like some Durawood work surfaces. However, it retains the east/ west boards on the lower level, but Dad's wide boards appear to be two narrow boards pushed together. Interestingly, like Dad's, the interior of the lid has no provisions for the swinging lid basket, so at least that part is older.

Anyway, my wife says I have no need for three grills on the deck, so I am in the process of restoring the second and third unit, using the best parts to make one grill. After it's done, I'll restore Dad's grill. I'll post pics of the restoration as I move forward, but for now, I will post some pics of Dad's grill while it's still together.

Here she is. Everything but the wheels are believed to be original.
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Here are the side tables, top and bottom:

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Here are the bottom boards, top and bottom. When taking these pictures this afternoon, I realized that they are made up of two narrow boards pushed together to look like a wide board. The Frankengrill has one piece wide boards. Note the brackets have two sets of screw holes. The unused holes were probably used for the single wide boards. I believe the switch to narrow boards was to reduce cupping.


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Here is the fold up table bracket. I believe the same assembly was used on my '92 grill except the '92 used narrow boards. Both used the same strut arm.

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The fuel gauge was a piece of metal with a decal that was attached to the leg with plastic push pins. The decal is gone on this one, but the Frankengrill has the decal. It's too rough to use, but It was good enough to take good measurements so that maybe I can make a template and paint it on.


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Looks like I reached the limit on pictures. I've got a few more to post. Be back in a minute

Cheers,
Gerry
 
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I'm back with a few more pics.
Here is the back side of the fuel gauge

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Dad replaced the wheels on his grill, but the Frankengrill had one old and one newer wheel. Here is how they compare. Old wheel on the right, front and back.

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Let's compare control panels, Dad's vs my '92. Note the igniter button. Funny how one surface was hot when in use while the other was only warm.

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Well, that's all for now. I found a few more differences that I'll make note of as the restorations progress.

Thanks,
Gerry
 
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Gerry,
Nice stories and background on your grills, that's what makes them that much more special.

I will be following your restoration process on these grill, Take lots of pics too.

Jeff
 
Gerry,
You have some great raw material to work with. There can’t be a whole lot of those very early Genesis grills left out there. Saving a few for posterity (and for enjoying;)) is, I think, a great thing. Looks like you have zeroed in on the unique features. It can get challenging to source parts that are true to the original. I don’t think I have ever seen a set of those old style wheels for sale, as an example. But that can be part of the fun. Our friends at the Weber Kettle Club are fanatics about saving and restoring old kettles. They help each other out all the time. We can do the same on these early Genesis grills.
 
G, thanks for posting. Looks like some fun projects.

Anyway, my wife says I have no need for three grills on the deck

I currently have 3 restored kettles sitting in my wife's craft room. So just tell your wife you will bring
them in the house, and off the deck as soon as they are completed. Problem solved. LOL
 
Awesome project. I have not come one across that old. How about restoring the least desireable with the parts you don’t need and sell it. Many buyers don’t care about the “matching number” style restoration. With the proceeds you can restore the ones you really like. 😉
 
Take lots of pics too.

OK, but it might get boring...

Gerry,
You have some great raw material to work with. There can’t be a whole lot of those very early Genesis grills left out there. Saving a few for posterity (and for enjoying;)) is, I think, a great thing. Looks like you have zeroed in on the unique features. It can get challenging to source parts that are true to the original. I don’t think I have ever seen a set of those old style wheels for sale, as an example. But that can be part of the fun. Our friends at the Weber Kettle Club are fanatics about saving and restoring old kettles. They help each other out all the time. We can do the same on these early Genesis grills.

These are not going to be numbers matching restorations. I'm going do what I can to make them look like the way they came from the factory, but there might be some changes.

So just tell your wife you will bring them in the house, and off the deck as soon as they are completed. Problem solved. LOL

Unfortunately, I have a few other projects taking up room. Strategically it is better to let her win this battle..

Awesome project. I have not come one across that old. How about restoring the least desireable with the parts you don’t need and sell it. Many buyers don’t care about the “matching number” style restoration. With the proceeds you can restore the ones you really like. 😉

Yeah, i'll end up with enough parts to build a third one. I may use it to barter for some work on other projects.

Here are a few more pics:

The Frankengrill didn't come with a control panel, and I used one I had in the spare parts pile. The hole centers were different, so I had to hog out one of the holes to get it to fit. This was done about ten years ago. The back label indicates the panel was from a natural gas model, but I think it came from a much newer unit. The serial numbers are visible, so maybe someone can tell what it was from. '92 on left, Frankengrill on right:

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Backside pics:

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Here is the handle I made for the Frankengrill. Also, the older Frankengrill used real nuts with star locks and washers while the '92 used speed nuts. All the speed nuts came off without a problem, but some of the ones with nuts would spin the bolt while trying to remove them. Drilled a small hole and pounded an allen key in the hole and out they came.

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The holes in the lids are different too. The '92 had holes that were 3/8" wide, while the Frankengrill had 5/16" wide holes. You may notice the folds overlap differently.

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Thanks,
Gerry
 
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I think you may have hogged out a later Genesis B or C 5 bar control panel to fit a 13 bar (2 row) grill like a 1,2,3, or 1xxx 2xxx 3xxx etc grill.
 
G, I like the handle. Did you have some sort of Harley emblem mounted to it?

No, it was just like you see it. I never put any finish on it, so there is about 10 years of weathering on it. Fortunately, I have two original wood handles that will be sanded and finished for these builds.

I think you may have hogged out a later Genesis B or C 5 bar control panel to fit a 13 bar (2 row) grill like a 1,2,3, or 1xxx 2xxx 3xxx etc grill.

Yes, that's probably what happened. Back when the newer stainless Webers were coming out, these older grills were being tossed like, well, "redheaded" stepchildren. Usually, there was nothing wrong with them, except that the wealthy wanted to show off their new stainless grills. We just used whatever got saved from the dump.

Gerry
 
No, it was just like you see it. I never put any finish on it, so there is about 10 years of weathering on it. Fortunately, I have two original wood handles that will be sanded and finished for these builds.

Gerry

Well, that unusual handle must have been made years ago, but it IS a custom one. It would be worth the effort to restore it, even if you use "stock" ones to make your restoration more authentic. Cleaned up, there would definitely be a market for the one you have if you don't want it for yourself.
 
Well, that unusual handle must have been made years ago, but it IS a custom one. It would be worth the effort to restore it, even if you use "stock" ones to make your restoration more authentic. Cleaned up, there would definitely be a market for the one you have if you don't want it for yourself.

Yes, it is a custom handle. I made it myself to replace the split original handle that was on the Frankengrill. Made it out of some oak flooring left over from when we built the house. I was also thinking about making one with the Chevy bow tie to put on the other grill, but never needed to because the original handle on that one was still in good shape. I was planning on throwing the Harley handle in the fireplace, but maybe I'll sand it down and see how it looks with some spar varnish while I'm doing the two originals.

Gerry
 
The 8006 panel is for the older Genesis models and the 8101 was for the later Silver B-C grills....So, yah, the 8101 was "customized" to fit your Genesis 1-2.
 
Worked on cleaning the lids a little with some steel wool. I pulled the badges.
Badges? I've got badges. I'll show you my stinking badges!

Frankengrill on top, '92 on bottom. Notice the difference in the trademarks. Also, the Frankengrill's has a slightly narrower outside border.

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On the backside, the Frankengrill on top has some black paint on the back.

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ETA: Dad's grill badge matches the Frankengrill. It's looking like the Frankengrill is at least as old as Dad's, maybe a bit older

Gerry
 
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Hope everyone had a merry Christmas!

I was able to do a little more work on the Frankengrill.

I got some lid side panels painted, and I assembled one with the original bolts and stainless nuts on the inside. Please excuse the mess. I'm taking a break from another project which is spread out all over the place.

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I decided to go with the wide slats on this grill. It has proven to be even older than Dad's grill, so it gets wide slats. I have some leftover Ipe decking from when we built our deck. I ripped a few to the proper width and ran them through the planer to get the right thickness and clean them up. This is some tough wood. These pieces were laying under the deck for ten years in direct contact with the ground and showed little if any rot. They should make very durable slats. I am also working on a jig so I can use a router to make some handles out of the same material.

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When I stripped the old paint ( I actually think it was powder coated) from the frame, I found some pitting under the finish in a few spots. I was thinking that it was actually signs of rust coming through from the inside. Even though the steel seemed solid, I was afraid that the rust would come through the paint in a few years and I would have to deal with it again. I don't want to deal with that again, so some 10 gauge stainless square tubing was procured, cut to size and welded together. I did save one cross member from the old frame though, the one where the igniter mounts. Notice the hole for the igniter is just a round hole, and not the double hole arrangement of the newer grills. Also, on the Frankengrill, the next cross member over that supports the control panel next to the firebox was one of the same cross members with the igniter hole, but turned 180 degrees. I just used some 1x1 stock on mine.

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What I'd like to do is source some Z bars for the wood slats made from stainless for the two grills as well as grates and flavorizor bars. Would anyone have the contact info for rcplanebuyer? I need his help!

Thanks!
Gerry
 
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Hope everyone had a merry Christmas!

I was able to do a little more work on the Frankengrill.

I got some lid side panels painted, and I assembled one with the original bolts and stainless nuts on the inside. Please excuse the mess. I'm taking a break from another project which is spread out all over the place.
ulfHRJe.jpg
[/IMG]

I decided to go with the wide slats on this grill. It has proven to be even older than Dad's grill, so it gets wide slats. I have some leftover Ipe decking from when we built our deck. I ripped a few to the proper width and ran them through the planer to get the right thickness and clean them up. This is some tough wood. These pieces were laying under the deck for ten years in direct contact with the ground and showed little if any rot. They should make very durable slats. I am also working on a jig so I can use a router to make some handles out of the same material.
T2rksag.jpg
[/IMG]

When I stripped the old paint ( I actually think it was powder coated) from the frame, I found some pitting under the finish in a few spots. I was thinking that it was actually signs of rust coming through from the inside. Even though the steel seemed solid, I was afraid that the rust would come through the paint in a few years and I would have to deal with it again. I don't want to deal with that again, so some 10 gauge stainless square tubing was procured, cut to size and welded together. I did save one cross member from the old frame though, the one where the igniter mounts. Notice the hole for the igniter is just a round hole, and not the double hole arrangement of the newer grills. Also, on the Frankengrill, the next cross member over that supports the control panel next to the firebox was one of the same cross members with the igniter hole, but turned 180 degrees. I just used some 1x1 stock on mine.
JXpa7sQ.jpg
[/IMG]


What I'd like to do is source some Z bars for the wood slats made from stainless for the two grills as well as grates and flavorizor bars. Would anyone have the contact info for rcplanebuyer? I need his help!

Thanks!
Gerry

Wow, Gerry! That is a lot of our members' dream to have a frame like that! I wish I know how to weld. Not only that, but you welded stainless which I would think would be even harder. You are going to have a "lifer" grill for sure.

Your project is looking great! Now you need to paint the kettle in your logo red;)! Please keep the pictures coming as you progress.
 
Gerry,
You can contact rcpalnebuyer (David Santana) directly through his Craigslist posting. It's cheaper than going through the e-bay route.

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/for/d/weber-flavor-bars/6779371080.html

Jeff


Thanks Jeff. I just sent a message off to him.

Wow, Gerry! That is a lot of our members' dream to have a frame like that! I wish I know how to weld. Not only that, but you welded stainless which I would think would be even harder. You are going to have a "lifer" grill for sure.

Your project is looking great! Now you need to paint the kettle in your logo red;)! Please keep the pictures coming as you progress.

No, I didn't weld it. I have a couple of pipe fitter friends at work that did the welding for me. They work on a lot of stainless here, and they are good! I plan on doing the same with Dad's grill, so I will never worry about frame rot in my lifetime! The only thing I'm wondering is...Should I paint the frame black, or leave it as is? There will be black parts on it, like the trim in front of the firebox and the propane tank holder. I guess I'll mock it up without paint and see how it looks.

Can't paint the kettle in the logo red. I don't think it originally came that way...although, it didn't originally come with a stainless frame either.
 

 

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