"Donor" Genesis 1000 grill gets the green light for a revival


 
JKim in MA

JKim in MA

TVWBB Pro
I picked up this grill for free last Friday night (1996 model according to the serial number).

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The good:

1) Came with a made in USA (2015 date) propane tank that was full
2) Came with a set of stainless Weber grates
3) Came with good stainless flavorizer bars
4) Finally came across a 1000 that has the swing table intact

The bad:

1) Typical rotted cross frame, rotted out lower frame braces
2) Cracked burners
3) Broken handle
4) Rotted drip rails
5) Hazy lid, broken handle

Its grates and flavorizer bars went to another grill which was sold this week.

I was going to part it out... but I did see the posts from Jeff MA and Xavier G about using threaded inserts and square tubing. I figured I had nothing to lose to try it on a grill that I was about to throw out.

I'm happy to report that the frame repair was a success and now I'm proceeding with the rehab. My variation of the frame repair was to use a scrap piece of 1.25" tubing from a Weber frame instead, along with threaded inserts for 1.25" tubing.

By adding a $4 cutting wheel to the Harbor Freight angle grinder, I was able to make the repair

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I used some spare nylon washers and new stainless 2" 1/4-20 bolts to add the new piece in. You can see the shiny stainless bolt head on the right side of picture here (yes, I know the firebox is facing the wrong way :D)

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I wirewheeled the firebox this morning. For a 21 year old grill, the firebox is in fantastic shape. No warping, no holes. Even the drip rail screws came off easily. I had a set of aluminum Silver B drip rails and I drilled new holes to fit. It worked great.

I'm trying the "Onlyfire" brand burners on Amazon because the set was only $15. I have a spare 13-bar set of flavorizers to use. I'm not sure what I'll do about the grates yet.

I will also try my luck with the Lowes cedar garden stakes to make slats for the tables.

More pics to follow.
 
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Where the heck are you and Bruce finding these things in ATL almost nothing been looking for a donor grill for a month no hits although I am impatient.
 
looks like a fun project. I keep hitting refresh looking for a donor grill so i can get the front hanging tray too.
 
Well, it seems up here if you live in or near a big city, you have a lot to choose from. Looking at the Milwaukee and Minneapolis Craigslist, they pop up pretty regular for $50 or less. Some are junk, some are in pretty good condition.

The OP's find is a good one in my opinion.
 
Boy you guys are scoring big time. Here in Prescott and I also look at Phoenix on CL which is a minimum 200 mile round trip. There isn't anything under $100 in the pre 2000 grills. Even the E/W E series grills are running $175 and up. Not that I need another grill and if you don't believe me just ask Barb she will gladly tell you I don't need another grill. :rolleyes:
Although If I find another 2000 or 3000 with a good frame and price I'll take the wrath from Barb. I want to convert my red head into a 2000.
 
Rich Dahl said:
Boy you guys are scoring big time. Here in Prescott and I also look at Phoenix on CL which is a minimum 200 mile round trip. There isn't anything under $100 in the pre 2000 grills. Even the E/W E series grills are running $175 and up. Not that I need another grill and if you don't believe me just ask Barb she will gladly tell you I don't need another grill. :rolleyes:
Although If I find another 2000 or 3000 with a good frame and price I'll take the wrath from Barb. I want to convert my red head into a 2000.
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There's definitely a surplus of cheap grills in my area and I don't have the time or the energy to collect most of them. For example:

A 2005 Genesis Gold B (it has the stainless cabinet doors, dual swing tables) that appears to need very little, for $50 (except that it's natural gas), and I already have a spare propane manifold. It's 45 minutes away.

A green Genesis 2000 that has the swing table intact for $35, appears to be a great restore candidate. It's 1 hour away.

A 2005 Genesis Silver B Premium (stainless cabinet doors, dual swing tables, black knobs) for $75 that they'd probably take $50 for. It's 20 minutes away -> I'm going to keep tabs on this one.
 
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Rich Dahl said:
Boy you guys are scoring big time. Here in Prescott and I also look at Phoenix on CL which is a minimum 200 mile round trip. There isn't anything under $100 in the pre 2000 grills. Even the E/W E series grills are running $175 and up. Not that I need another grill and if you don't believe me just ask Barb she will gladly tell you I don't need another grill. :rolleyes:
Although If I find another 2000 or 3000 with a good frame and price I'll take the wrath from Barb. I want to convert my red head into a 2000.
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Rich guessing no rust allowed they are probably in better shape than most in ATL lots of humid weather your going to get more rust.
 
So here's a bit of an update... I had it in pieces but some parts showed up this weekend and I decided to see how it would look with no missing pieces, plus I wanted to see how those $15 Onlyfire burners would do.

The burners have a nice heft to them like the original Webers, and the fit was perfect. Because they also have the updated design with integrated spider guards, I was able to ditch the original Weber spider guards.

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I had a Skyline come in last month with a great frame. I mixed and matched good parts including parts from this donor and sold it to a friend of mine who needed a grill.

I kept the Skyline lid and the condiment rack though, so I decided to make this one into a faux Skyline:

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It has aging Weber stainless FBs but I might splurge for the rcplanebuyer set. I threw on a set of porcelain coated stamped steel grates just to make it complete.

I will get around to painting the firebox and the lid end caps, and I still need to redo the slats on the work table, but it doesn't look bad as it sits. It has a certain patina to it.

One thing that I noticed was that it takes significantly longer to heat up than my 5 FB 3-burners, and it also seemed to top out at 520-530 degrees.
 
JKim, that grill looks nice. If you are not going to sell it, I wouldn't get all worked up over making it perfect. One cook and it will look used any way.

One thing about the temps. I recently bought a Thermoworks Smoke remote thermometer and it has one of those probes you put on the grill grates right at the level of the meat. I did some chicken wings on it yesterday and while the temps at food level were at about 300, my lid thermometer was having trouble hitting 200. On high after about 30 minutes, my grill only gets to about 550 on the lid thermometer, but it will be way over that at grate level. There is plenty of heat where your food is, believe me.
 
Bruce, the temperature issue was isolated to a lazy thermometer (I swapped it out with a known working one and it easily hit 550+).

I painted the lid caps and the firebox this morning, put it all together, and then went to the dump to get rid of some scrap metal and..... a REDHEAD followed me home

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No grates, no FBs, old-style regulator, but LOTS of good parts (even the frame is good).

So, the Faux Skyline idea was shelved in favor of a redhead:

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I have enough parts to make another grill with the remaining parts.
 
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2 other Genesis 1000 donor grills showed up in my radar since my last post. One of them came with new Weber burners, so I swapped the Onlyfire burners out in favor of the Weber ones. I took the wire shelf off and installed it in a grill that I sold.

I then went on a Durawood binge and added a right side flip table:

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I'm going to replace the Durawood pieces with real wood next summer, but for now, I like this grill as it sits.
 
JKim in MA said:
2 other Genesis 1000 donor grills showed up in my radar since my last post. One of them came with new Weber burners, so I swapped the Onlyfire burners out in favor of the Weber ones. I took the wire shelf off and installed it in a grill that I sold.

I then went on a Durawood binge and added a right side flip table:

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I'm going to replace the Durawood pieces with real wood next summer, but for now, I like this grill as it sits.
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JKim, that looks nice and functional. The right flip up table really created extra work space!!!
 
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RayM said:
JKim, that looks nice and functional. The right flip up table really created extra work space!!!
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Thanks, Ray. My other 2 grills have a right-side swing table, so whenever I was using this one, I missed having the extra space. Not any longer!
 
Great work on your projects! Especially like your right side flip tray. I am hoping to do one the same way if I can get my hands on the hardware.

Not having done one before, can you tell me if you need separate right side hardware or can you “flip” left side hardware?

I also think your Skyline is a keeper and think it looks cool already. I went to grad school and worked in Chicago for a short while. It would be fun to come across one (even though my fed up wife would get even more fed up). Don’t see these in Florida hardly at all. If I did get one I would be tempted to go for a Chicago look and stain the wood slats ebony black and try for a black handle and knobs. Good luck on finishing touches!
 
JKim in MA said:
Thanks, Ray. My other 2 grills have a right-side swing table, so whenever I was using this one, I missed having the extra space. Not any longer!
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are you going to stay with the durawood ?? or using real wood slat in the future?? I know durawood would not last too close to heat, at least wood stands up better to heat and also give the classic look.......:)
 
I may have to go ahead on do a second right side table for my Genesis 1000. But, yah, the hardware is the real issue.
 
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