Comparing Restoring a Broilmaster to a Weber


 
Mike in Sacramento said:
I know this is an old thread, but I had no place else to go. I've scoured the internet and this is the best thread out there about restoring a Broilmaster.
Here's my story. I read about the Broilmasters being a high quality grill and did my research, which led me here. I've had numerous Weber grills, both gas and charcoal (many I've flipped), but after reading this thread, I had to get myself a Broilmaster. They are hard to find! About 2 months ago, I found a P3 here in town and the seller was asking $20. I was super excited and went to go pick it up. When I arrived, the seller told me that he just discovered it was stolen from the side of his house. Seriously? He said the grill had been there for months and it was just there a few days ago, but it was now gone.

So, I had to wait about 2 months before I found a "free" one on offer up. I went and picked it up last Sunday.


Here it is at home. It's a D3CP model made in 1998. I think the only difference between this and the P3 is that mine does not have the stainless steel base. It had a black painted base that was rusty all over.


The burner, bottom grate, and ceramic briquettes were all pretty much new. The igniter was shot and the grates had peeling porcelain and rust. I ordered a new ignitor (rotary), sanded down the rust on the base and replaced the various nuts and bolts that needed replacing. Instead of using the ceramic briquettes, I used ceramic tiles that I had used from a previous grill. Per Jon's suggestion, I used Krylon high heat for the head and it came out nice.


It fired up on the first try and I let it run for awhile. It runs silky smooth. I can tell this thing will get hot. I haven't cooked on it yet because my wife was grossed out by the original grates. She told me to order some new grates from Amazon (no arguments here) and those should arrive tomorrow. I opted for the $35.99 set of cast iron grates. I'm going to work on getting them properly seasoned tomorrow if I have time.

Thanks to all those in this post that inspired me on my Broilmaster journey! I can't wait to cook on it.
Click to expand...

I picked up the exact same Broilmaster (my 2nd Broilmaster to rehab - my first was a P3 Ducks Unlimited) from the curb in my subdivision. So far I have ground off all of the years of baked on grease inside the lid and base portion of the cooking chamber using the rotary wire brushes from Harbor Freight. The burner was shot - I ordered a replacement on Amazon. The cooking grates are shot - chipped porcelain and rust (I have to order replacements).
I sanded the shelves and will varnish them (and I replaced one strip of wood that rotted out.)
I have a box of new ceramic briquettes in my garage and I had one of those universal after market lava rock grates to use on top of the existing grate that's pretty rusty.
There were a couple of rust holes in the base and I bought some sheet metal at Lowes, so far I've cut them to fit top and underside of the base - I still have to drill screw holes to fasten them using some tiny sheet metal screws.
Then I should be ready to paint and reassemble.
I will post a photo when completed.
 
Marty, looking forward to your photos! I fired mine up yesterday for to heat up a 10" cast iron pan to sear a couple chicken breasts I cooked in my sous vide. This thing gets HOT and fast. It got the cast iron pan well over 500 degrees (I measured with infrared thermometer) and I only had it set between 2-3 on the controls. This is definitely a Man-Grill.
 
Mike in Sacramento said:
Marty, looking forward to your photos! I fired mine up yesterday for to heat up a 10" cast iron pan to sear a couple chicken breasts I cooked in my sous vide. This thing gets HOT and fast. It got the cast iron pan well over 500 degrees (I measured with infrared thermometer) and I only had it set between 2-3 on the controls. This is definitely a Man-Grill.
Click to expand...

The "Before":
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/1791/iQxuJT.jpg

The "After":
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/8822/8HrBAt.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img921/1985/l4GZ9V.jpg

I still have to replace the grates.
 
That's a nice looking BM. Hell it as good looking even before you did anything. You got a nice one there
 
Hats off to Mike in Sacramento who was kind and generous enough to "sell" me the wood handle and trays from the Broilmaster he pictured for just the shipping cost.

I already have a restoreable set of stainless grates for a "4" model (one of which I cleaned up as a "wild card grate" for the eventually upcoming Stainless Grate Showdown). Now, I am on the lookout for a model 4 Broilmaster at a reasonable price. So far, all I have seen is one many hours away in Jacksonville, and it looked like it had some weird hack jobs done to it. Drain pan was re-cut into the FRONT of the firebox and then there looked to be a metal bucket, like pellet grills have for grease, hanging off the bottom side!? :confused:

One will show up eventually...I need to SELL some stuff first, anyway:eek:!
 
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