Finished my first Restoration, 1996 Mastertouch


 

RyanS_MN

TVWBB Fan
I just finished my first Weber restoration. It’s a 1996 mastertouch from what I’ve been able to gather. Long story short on it, the future in laws brought it for a garage sale after it was given to them for free and when it didn’t sell my fiancée couldn’t let it go so this year I said if we’re keeping it, then we’re fixing it. The stock grates were in really rough shape, the photos don’t do them justice on the nasty crap built up so we opted to just go new on grates. All in all I went though 10 razor blades getting crud off the lid and the razor scraper was junked by the time I finished (spring was shot).

The lid handle was also busted off, I ended up replacing it by drilling out the pop rivers and using two 3/4” stainless bolts, some fender washers, regular washers, and wing nuts.

The front leg cap was missing and that’s been replaced as well, and the new wooden handles have been ordered they just haven’t arrived yet.

All in all I think I’m $70 into parts and $25 in on hardware/cleaning supplies. If I had to do it all again I definitely could shave $20 off and maybe more if the charcoal grate wasn’t also so rough. That said having a shined up 96 will be worth it but it won’t be like New it does have a few battle scars from the original owners. I’ll still bet I get another 10 years out of it.

TLDR: fixed a Weber from 96 here’s some pics
https://imgur.com/a/oGFON8T
 
Excellent job, Ryan! That grill looks fantastic!:blackkettle:

Thanks. I'm still amazed at how new i got it looking given how dinged and nasty it was. It still isn't perfect but i did get a lot of rust off and my wooden handles showed up today so I can't wait to get those on
 
Great job Ryan, looks like new! Did you have any trouble with the paint on the lid by the handle by chance?
 
Yes and no. Where the pop rivets had basically become shot there is rust but it appears to be mostly surface. From what i've been told the grill was always stored in a garage. I did with a sponge, actually get the inside lid spots back to bare metal which if you zoom on the pictures you can see. i do have to give it one final scrub on the outside to get it to match but since i have fender washers and it'll continue to be garage store
 

 

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