Q 3something


 

Jason in CA

TVWBB All-Star
I just picked up a Q 3xxx for $75. It looks like it has never been cleaned. My intention is to spruce it up a little and flip it. However the grates may not be salvageable. And I didn't realize how much they cost before I picked up the grill. Now I'm not sure if I made a good investment here. I'll post pictures a little later.
 
Have a look at my thread from a while back https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?74509-Finally-got-the-Q320-going you will see a lot of what I did to bring the grates back from the dead. It was a lot of work. Yes in the photos you're seeing it right.............a HUGE SnapOn Air chisel (from back in the my automotive days in the 60's) was needed to chisel off old carbon, rust and enamel. Not shown I followed up with my trusty HF angle grinder and wire cup brush to get the finished product.
Still working well but I am truly thinking of springing for brand new ones. If I was "flipping it" though I would have sold it with the restored grates
 
Well, I determined its a 300 once I got it home.






I'm sure the grates have never been removed to clean under them. I'm also fairly sure the grates themselves have never been cleaned.



I gave them a quick once over and was pleasantly surprised. They don't have the rot and pits that I thought I was going to see. I beleive now that with some effort they can be brought back using some of the technique Larry mentioned.



I now have a Q:) Overall it seems to be in decent shape. However when I lit it the flames from the burners were large and yellow. I'll try to clean them and see what happens. But at this point I'm not in a hurry to mess with it too much. It's not the season for listing grills. So this one will have to wait a few months. Plus I have already started to do some work on the Skyline, and I'd like to get it finished at some point.
 
That is about what I had when I started mine though the internals were cleaner and it burned cleanly. My guess is just doing a thorough burner clean will restore nice blue flames, some EasyOff and a hose or a power washer will take care of the insides. The grates will take 90% of the restore time LOL
 
Jason,
I think you have a very decent starting point that mainly needs a lot of “sweat equity!” With a pretty nice cover I think you did fine for $75. Keep us posted. We will enjoy seeing the turnaround pictures:D!
 
Jason, I have a Q3xx sitting in my garage that looks basically the same as that one and will be destined for a rehab and flip in the spring. Now that you got the grates relatively cleaned up, just take the angle grinder and wire cup brush to them and in 15 minutes, they will look great. If you are going to flip the grill, you might want to consider grinding the inside of the cook box and inside of the lid down to bare aluminum. It isn't that hard. And, since that lid looks to be in good shape, you can simply clean it up or slap a fresh coat of something a bit less boring over the top of it.

One tip on the grates is to keep an eye on Ebay. The regular mass listings are not good, but every so often an individual throws up a set that he bought in error or something and you can sometimes score a good price that way. Otherwise, you are looking at $60-$70 for a new set for the Q300 on Amazon.

I think the reason we see so many of these Q grills looking so bad is that people who buy them are looking for simple and very low maintenance (or NO maintenance in many cases). When I see a grill like yours, I just wonder if the previous owner ever even lifted the grates once.

Oh, and run the angle grinder and cup brush over the burner, then flush out the inside with the garden hose and in 5 minutes it will be purring along fine with nice blue flames.
 
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I spent about two hours with the angle grinder today working on the grates. Got them much better than they were and I'm trying to get some season on them now. Wiped them down with a paper towel and vegetable oil. Then put them back in the Q and fired it up. I figured I would let them go for about 30 to 45 minutes. Then let them cool and repeat a couple more times. I'm hoping this works because replacement grates are very expressive for it. And I told my neighbor I would sell it to him for $150 after I get it ready. I'm not trying to make a lot of money doing this, but I spent $70 for the grill so new grates are not in the equation.
 
Yah, it is tough to make a flip on a Q grill if you have to replace the grates. And most of the time, the only reason anyone gets rid of the Q grills is because the grates are in tough shape. If you took the angle grinder to them, you probably found that a lot of the thin ceramic coating was gone from them. Mostly just from use but also from the grinding. They are fine to use that way, but unless they are kept oiled and seasoned, they will show rust pretty quickly. My back deck Q200 is that way. I will just keep using the grate until it basically falls apart which will be several years. Then I will consider replacing it.

Keep an eye on CL and FB MP as people every so often have new ones they either purchased the wrong ones or just never installed them.
 
I just saw the same Q posted for $40 in my area. I want to jump on it but I promised myself I would clear out some of the ones I have before I get more. I shared it in the "I'll just leave this here" thread. It had only been posted for 10 minutes when I saw it, so I probably had a good shot at getting it when I first saw it, but I'm going to let it go.
 
Larry,

How many times did you have to oil and heat the grates, and how much oil did it take to get the grates on your Q serviceable? I'm on my third oiling and heating, and still have bad spots.
 
Jason, if you took them all the way down to bare cast iron when you took the angle grinder to them, then it is going to take some time to get them seasoned well and keep in mind that every time you brush them with a wire brush, you are stripping most of that previous seasoning off of them.
This is why Weber "coats" their grates from the factory.
 
Brushing them as part of my problem. I took the angle grinder to them and strip them down to metal. Last weekend I was able to season them twice. When I went back to it this weekend there was surface rust. And when I scraped it it seemed like it was coming up through the seasoning. I'd like to get this girl ready for sale but I'm afraid I may have to replace the grates in order to have it really presentable. I can clean the rest up no problem, but since my neighbor wants this Grill I really don't want to give him something inferior. If it was listed and someone decided they wanted it I could tell them the greats would probably need to be replaced at some point and leave it up to them if it's worth it. I may end up having to tell my neighbor the same thing if I can't get these better than I have been able to.
 
It might be worth it for me to spend the 70 and raise the price on the barbecue. I think if I'm patient enough I might be able to ask $200 and just wait for the right person to come along and want it. I'm not trying to get rich doing this, none of us are, but I don't want to lose money either. If I have to replace the grates I'll be into the grill for about $150. I don't include my time in that. Unfortunately $150 is what I told my neighbor he could have it for after I got it cleaned up and ready for him.
 
Yah, that is a problem with Q grills. What Q version is your grill? You could offer the grill as is for the $150 or tell a buyer they can have it for $200 with new grates. But let me know what Q size your grill is. Is it a Q3xx?

Here is about the best deal I know of for Q3xx grates.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Weber-7584...m1ec678c6b9:g:1KsAAOSwT-FZCOjN&frcectupt=true


But then a check on amazon has this: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07JWDNVN1/tvwb-20
or this: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B078GT77FV/tvwb-20
 
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Well, check out those links. You can get quilimetal grates for it for $50. Offer it to your friend as is, or tell him you can put new grates on it for an extra $40 or $50.

The current grates will work fine, you just have to keep seasoning them between cooks.
 
Jason, it took a lot of seasoning and while they're "serviceable" for me I would not try to sell the grill like this. I would definitely replace the grate(s). Those deals Bruce showed look fantastic and I think I will be purchasing one of them myself
 
I have them looking like this at the moment



But my fear is that they first time they get another good scraping from a barbecue brush the rest will come back through. Or if it's like last time they will sit for a week and have surface rust again. I think the porcelain enameled grates are probably the best option. If it was my personal grill I would be happy with the results I've gotten so far.
 
Jason,

Looks pretty good to me. I wouldn't mind using that. I think I would go with Bruce's suggestion and offer your friend a two-tier price. If you went with the Qlimetal the jump is down to $50 which gives you a little room. I would definitely try Qlimetal since I have had favorable opinions of their grates and flavorizers. Disclosure, I did get a free set for doing a review on Amazon for them, but my opinion is the honest truth. Their prices on the very nice stainless rod grates have steadily risen, but they are still a much less expensive route to getting really decent grates. I am hoping these Q cast iron grates are of similar quality.
 

 

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