2000 Summit 450 Craigslist find


 
L

Lou C.

New member
Hello there. I'm a long time lurker, and just joined the forum yesterday. I found this place learning to build a WSM mini a couple of years ago. I had since picked up an old 3 burner Genesis Silver B and have really enjoyed that grill. It cooked much better than any other grill I had owned previously (charboil, Kenmore Elite).

Yesterday I found an old Summit 450 on CL asking $150. I ended up getting it for $140. Did I make out OK? All of the burners work. One of the crossover burners has a hole rusted through about 1" long. Not much rust, if any on the frame. The cook box looks pretty decent. The igniters need to be replaced.

In the near future, I hope to break it down fully, clean it up and repaint the firebox and lid side caps. I also intend to replace all of the burners and flavorizer bars eventually.

I am having a hard time finding much online about this grill. I am finding some parts, but many are showing "discontinued". I understand it's an old grill, but my Genesis Silver B I was easily able to find pretty much every part and also a selection of videos on youtube on how to fix it. I also didn't really find any threads here regarding this grill either which I thought was strange.

Anyhow, here she is as I found her. It had a cover on it, but had not been used for over a year. Some dust/pollen collected on it, but nothing major.

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Here she is with the lid opened. Looks pretty well used, but not terrible.

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Here we are after about 1/2 hr of cleaning. Just sprayed it off with a hose, and gave it a good wipe down.

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Took out the grates, flavorizer bars and cleaned out the cook box with paint scraper and wire brush. Did a light scrub with a brillo pad

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That's a great score right there. I would have pulled the trigger on that fine looking Summit in a second. I think you might have a fairly rare color too since I can't find another online like it. Most seem to be either black or stainless from what I see and that blue sure looks sharp! If that is only a half hour of cleaning, it is going to turn out beautifully once you redo the side caps.

I think you are seeing less availability on parts for that bad boy for a couple of reasons. 1. The Genesis line is much more popular and has sold many more units over the years compared to the more expensive, top of the line Summits. Also, I believe many parts on Genesis models have remained interchangeable for long periods of time which again is a plus for long term parts availability. 2. I an not 100% certain but I think your Summit model had a fairly short production run before the next generation came out, which again puts a crimp in parts availability.

One other thing to watch out for is rust in the cookbox , especially where the burners go into the front of the grill. LMichaels will tell you all you need to know about his past experience with that.

Again, great score and welcome aboard. I'd like to see some more pics once she is fully restored. Enjoy it!
 
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I've not ever seen an older Weber with the burner controls on the front like that? Maybe the first version of the summit line? I'll be interested to hear what is known about it.

You did a good job with the cleanup. As long as replacement parts are available I think you did well on the price.
 
I have the exact same grill only with a side burner and converted to natural gas. I even have a blue lid exactly like that for it when ever I decide I want a blue Summit instead of a black one. It is the best Summit bar none Weber ever produced. Why? Look at how over built the frame is. Compare it to the next gen Summit which sits on spindly little legs and frame pieces and you'll understand. The flavorizer bars should last a lifetime. Weber built this model with extremely heavy 304SS ones. The side tables and other stainless exterior parts on it are all 304SS. It has outstanding heat distribution and control. It has solid 3/8" stainless steel rod type grates. Spaced tightly enough so a steak won't fall through (unlike the chintzy ones made today from Weber). No losing asparagus through the grates when grilling or pieces of veg. It stays where it belongs. It gets hot but it also does low/slow as good or better than anything ever produced from Weber since.
So it's shortcomings? Very few. First because there is no dedicated rotisserie burner buying a rotisserie kit for it is a waste of time and money (Keep your older Genesis for that). The front panel of the fire box fails and rusts out just above the burner tubes. Sadly Weber saw to it that owners of these grills were left high and dry on this point (even while they were still under warranty). If you're clever with some metal fabrication perhaps you can make a front panel for it. Boom those are the ONLY 2 week points for this model. There was also a 6 burner version of this grill (which if I could I would put my hands on also). In the end do everything you can to keep and preserve this grill it will reward you like no other. BTW the only other weak point I can think of is the design of putting the burners and flavorizer bars so close to the grates can cause pretty bad flare ups with fatty things i.e. chicken thighs and such. And the grease management system is a little small. Enjoy that bad boy
 
awesome, thanks for the info Shad. All of your points make sense as far as limited info and limited parts. :) hopefully i get around to restoring it sooner than later!
 
LMichaels said:
Wow! Your wife put her foot down for that gem for only $80?! Time for a new wife ;-)
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No kidding. Deal like that falls under the adage "it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission".


Lou, I agree with almost everything that LM said. I have the 6 burner version of this grill, the 650. It's a beast. WRT the burners, they come different ways. Don't remember the part numbers off hand, but they come in pairs with the cross over tube. You can buy full set 4 burner tubes and 2 cross over tubes, or just 2 tubes and 1 cross over. You might even be able to buy just a cross over tube if the main tubes are in good shape. Same thing with the igniters. On the flavorizers, iirc, they are very thick gauge individual bars. Are you sure they need to be replaced ?
 
LMichaels said:
I have the exact same grill only with a side burner and converted to natural gas. I even have a blue lid exactly like that for it when ever I decide I want a blue Summit instead of a black one. It is the best Summit bar none Weber ever produced. Why? Look at how over built the frame is. Compare it to the next gen Summit which sits on spindly little legs and frame pieces and you'll understand. The flavorizer bars should last a lifetime. Weber built this model with extremely heavy 304SS ones. The side tables and other stainless exterior parts on it are all 304SS. It has outstanding heat distribution and control. It has solid 3/8" stainless steel rod type grates. Spaced tightly enough so a steak won't fall through (unlike the chintzy ones made today from Weber). No losing asparagus through the grates when grilling or pieces of veg. It stays where it belongs. It gets hot but it also does low/slow as good or better than anything ever produced from Weber since.
So it's shortcomings? Very few. First because there is no dedicated rotisserie burner buying a rotisserie kit for it is a waste of time and money (Keep your older Genesis for that). The front panel of the fire box fails and rusts out just above the burner tubes. Sadly Weber saw to it that owners of these grills were left high and dry on this point (even while they were still under warranty). If you're clever with some metal fabrication perhaps you can make a front panel for it. Boom those are the ONLY 2 week points for this model. There was also a 6 burner version of this grill (which if I could I would put my hands on also). In the end do everything you can to keep and preserve this grill it will reward you like no other. BTW the only other weak point I can think of is the design of putting the burners and flavorizer bars so close to the grates can cause pretty bad flare ups with fatty things i.e. chicken thighs and such. And the grease management system is a little small. Enjoy that bad boy
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awesome, thanks for the info LM! this is good to know! i already gave my genesis silver B to my friend that helped me pick the Summit up! :) he didn't have a grill and was about to buy a $160 Charbroil. he's come to my place for many bbq parties and he knows what it's capable of. he was really appreciative and i think he'll take good care of it.

my grill does have the side burner. :) i think i'm going to have to do some work on it though. i can't get the knob to turn. it seems to be locked in place. i will take some pliers to it this weekend. the knob wont' move. it won't push down or pull up. otherwise, the siderburner looks like it was never used. in very good shape. the igniter for the sideburner is the only one that still works!

the flavorizer bars are a bit rusty but still have plenty of life. there is one bar that is rusting through. it is the bar closest to the crossbar burner that has the 1" hole it in. so i'm certain there's a hotspot there that caused it to burn through. the grates are in great shape. they could use a cleaning. but they are very heavy and solid as a rock.

mine also came with the rotisserie kit. it's stored in the bottom cabinet. but it's very rusty, and to be honest, i've never been too interested in rotisserie cooking. i have a couple of smokers that do a great job at smoking whole birds and large cuts of meat.

Pat G said:
That's a beauty Lou, nice find.
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thanks Pat!

Rich Dahl said:
Very nice, great score.
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i'd like to think so. it's the cheapest i've seen for one of these. i saw a dark green one similar to this. but they were asking around $500-600 if i remember right. it was the 6 burner beast! it was in similar shape as well. but i'm sure it's long gone. that was a post i had seen last year.

Dustin Dorsey said:
I think there's one of these on Facebook marketplace in the Dallas area but my wife put her foot down.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/permalink/634922076693784
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lol. you must be running out of room on your patio!
 
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DaveW said:
No kidding. Deal like that falls under the adage "it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission".


Lou, I agree with almost everything that LM said. I have the 6 burner version of this grill, the 650. It's a beast. WRT the burners, they come different ways. Don't remember the part numbers off hand, but they come in pairs with the cross over tube. You can buy full set 4 burner tubes and 2 cross over tubes, or just 2 tubes and 1 cross over. You might even be able to buy just a cross over tube if the main tubes are in good shape. Same thing with the igniters. On the flavorizers, iirc, they are very thick gauge individual bars. Are you sure they need to be replaced ?
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hi Dave. yup, i saw the different kits for a 4 burner set with 2 crossovers and a set with 2 tubes and one cross. i could not find one with just the single cross. on the flavorizer bars, i suspect the previous owner may have replaced them with thinner 18ga stainless bars, rather than the stock 16ga. one has a hole burning through it, which was closest to that 1" hole in the crossbar tube. (makes sense) i think the other bars will probably last another year or so, but they seem a bit thin in spots.
 
"my grill does have the side burner. i think i'm going to have to do some work on it though. i can't get the knob to turn. it seems to be locked in place. i will take some pliers to it this weekend. the knob wont' move. it won't push down or pull up. otherwise, the siderburner looks like it was never used. in very good shape. the igniter for the sideburner is the only one that still works!"

The valve is an easy fix. Has to be taken apart and relubed. In fact I have to do it to mine this year. Has to do with the way it sits on the grill and moisture seems to be prone to getting to it
 
Lou, congrats on joining the Summit 450 Club! I've got a 2002 Summit 450 in black, it's my one and only gas grill and we use it all the time. Bought it new as a 40th birthday present to myself. At the time, I knew a guy working at Weber and he said, "if you're going to buy a Summit, you want to buy the 450 right now, because you won't like the 2003 model as much" due to changes in design, materials, etc. He was right, the Summit 450 has been and continues to be a great grill for me. I've not had the rust problem that LMichaels refers to. I've replaced the burner tubes and Flavorizer bars once (probably unnecessary, in hindsight) and I've replaced the igniters twice, most recently in December 2016. (Order igniters from Weber to make sure you get the right ones...mine were "901 Igniter Kit Summit 00" and "23114-00008" on the package, and you need two of them.)

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My Summit 450 has a hot spot across the front of the grill...you can see it in this article I wrote about The Toast Test. Knowing that, I sometimes use it to my advantage and move meat into that area to speed up cooking, otherwise I move meat to the cooler area in the back.

There is some stiffness in one or two of the burner control valves, and they don't always pop up into the locked position when closed. Not so bad that I've ever felt the need to replace them or lube them as LMichaels describes. What I do notice is that as the grill warms up and the valves catch some of that radiant heat, they loosen up a bit and work better.

What I am noticing when cleaning the grill, however, is that some of the speed nuts are starting to rust-out in a few locations inside the firebox. By my count there are 30 of them in the firebox and I'm interested in replacing them, but have not sourced them yet. Can't find them at local hardware stores, might have to look at McMaster-Carr...these might be them at bottom left called "flanged push nuts"...does anyone know of a source in reasonable quantities? Here's one that's still in good shape:

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Last time I checked, the original cover for this grill is still available from Weber, but it costs a fortune. The current Weber 7108 cover for the Summit 400 series fits my grill pretty well and costs $70-80. The only catch is that those condiment racks on the front make the Summit 450 wider than other Summits, and the cover material is pulled VERY TIGHT across the outside corner of each rack. Not sure how the cover will hold up over time, there is a chance those outside corners will tear through the cover. I'll just have to wait and see. I tried the larger cover for the Summit 600 series, and it's just longer, not wider, so no better. Here's a photo showing what I'm talking about:

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All in all, you've got a great grill, especially in that blue color! Call Weber to see what parts you can get, or check with eReplacementParts.com or grillparts.com or appliancefactoryparts.com. We need to keep these old gassers running!

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awesome, thanks for the warm welcome and additional info.

i found this video last night that i think will help me in re-finishing this grill. anyone know where to find the plastic rods for the knobs on the cabinet? my left cabinet door is fine, the rods on the left door are missing.

 
What's not quite obvious in that video is that the control panel catches behind two flanges, one on each side of the cast end cap. Grasp the control panel at each end and lift UP to clear the flanges, then slide out as shown in the video.

My control knobs stick really bad to the valves, to the point I wonder if I'll be able to get them off. I sprayed the inside of the knob hole with silicone spray, that makes getting them off a bit easier next time.

It is a super easy grill to work on, very straight forward.
 
One thing that stands out big time to me is that his fire box is on borrowed time since it is rusted out pretty badly at the front. Mine was even worse. Which honestly is the only real "weak spot" this grill has. I have to assume it's big brother (the 650) has the same issue. So OP this is the only thing you REALLY have to watch out for. As when it rusts through you can get flame propagation under the control panel (not a good thing).
 
thanks for additional info gentlemen. yes Chris. i did figure out that you kinda have to lift the front panel first before it will slide out. it did take a little bit to figure it out. for a second, i thought i was going to have to take off the side caps to take that off. my knobs popped off quite easily. i still can't get the knob off of my side burner. i think i'm going to have to spray it down with some wd40 or something to loosen it. it was good to tinker around with the grill just to familiarize myself with the grill a little more.

yes LM, the fire box does seem like it is going to be the hardest part to replace if need be. after looking at mine a bit more, it seems to be in pretty good shape. after scraping it down with a paint scraper, i didn't really see any thin spots or heavy rust. there is some of the oxidation on the outside. but hopefully i'll get around to sanding it down a bit and repainting soon.

my first cook went pretty good. i used 3 of the 4 burners and the grill got up to around 525 degrees on high. i think with the 4th burner it will exceed 600. both thermometers worked as well. i know they aren't the most accurate, but still a good general guage to go off of IMO. i grilled some pork center loin chops. they turned out pretty awesome. in the the pic they appear dry, but they were very moist. i pulled them at around 145 in the center. i really think i'm gonna love this grill!!


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I don't think I would sand on that panel. Maybe just get some rust encapsulator and hit the rusty area with it
 
Lou C. said:
both thermometers worked as well.
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Oh, I forgot to say something about that. The thermometer in the middle of the lid is not standard equipment. Weber moved the thermometer to the center of the lid starting in 2003. I suspect the previous owner noticed that change on the newer models and added that second therm.
 
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