2013 E-330 restoration of sorts

[Ben - Grapevine TX]

HI all-
Before I found this wonderful resource, I purchased a black 2013 E-330, for less than $200. It was stored in a shed for the last 4-5 years since it was NG and since the owner didn't have that at his home. Luckily, there is very limited rust on the cabinet parts, including the floor. It does have some small areas of rust on the black porcelain drip tray and under the side burner. Overall, I would estimate less than 5% of the surfaces is affected. The cast aluminum lid has some areas of corrosion on the sides. Before putting it into service, I wanted to address the areas of rust and corrosion. I've read up on what to do for the cabinet: wire brush, apply Rust-o-leum rusty metal primer, then paint. What about the lid and firebox? Take the same approach on the porcelain drips, but skip the primer and use Rustoluem Ultra High Heat? Are there good options for high heat gray paints?

Thanks,
Ben

 

[Jon Tofte]

FIrst of all, Ben, WELCOME TO TVWBB!

Other than for some minor repairs, I would not recommend using high heat paint on the porcelain drip tray. At least you can buy one of those if necessary, although it won't be cheap.

The aluminum side panels of the hood and the endcaps are great candidates for cleaning, degreasing and then painting. The big challenge is the lack of an ideal high heat gray paint. Do some searching here and you will find a number of threads dedicated to that question with various alternatives discussed and even some examples as I recall. Seems like maybe Stove Bright has one of the best true high heat options, but it is very expensive.

There are at least a couple good dark gray colors for repainting the cabinetry. I just hope your rust damage is repairable and that the frame tube bottoms are sound enough to reinforce with some Rust Encapsulator or POR-15.

 

[Ben - Grapevine TX]

Pictures for reference.

 

[Ben - Grapevine TX]

Should I be concerned about the corrosion in the firebox?

 

[Bruce]

Ben, Don't worry about the fire box. It would take many years for any corrosion on the aluminum casting fire box to be a problem. I would clean it up and probably repaint the fire box if you are doing a restore on the grill however.

Otherwise, that grill looks pretty good. The end caps look like you can probably just repaint them without having to strip them. Just clean them up and spray with some good high heat paint. It looks like you are going to have to do some rust removal and repainting inside that cabinet though.. Expecially at the base of the drip pan stand. But, it all looks like surface rust at this point and should clean up nicely.

 

[Jon Tofte]

I am with Bruce on his assessment. I have seen way worse 300 grills than that one. You can definitely save it without going to enormous lengths.

 

[Ben - Grapevine TX]

I took everything apart tonight and got it all cleaned up. Ready for wire brushing and primer tomorrow! Everything down to piece part. Thoughts on colors? Any thoughts on going full black or silver on the cabinet? Any reason to keep the s/n stickers on pieces? Here’s the floor of the cabinet.

 

[Bruce]

Well, heck, that floor isn't so bad at all. Just surface rust at this point and it doesn't look too bad. You don't need to keep the SN stickers and warning stickers if it is going to be a personal grill, but they are nice for rehab and flip grills. If you don't save them, it might be a good idea to take a quick photo of them to have a record of the info.

 

[Ben - Grapevine TX]

FIrst of all, Ben, WELCOME TO TVWBB!

Other than for some minor repairs, I would not recommend using high heat paint on the porcelain drip tray. At least you can buy one of those if necessary, although it won't be cheap.

The aluminum side panels of the hood and the endcaps are great candidates for cleaning, degreasing and then painting. The big challenge is the lack of an ideal high heat gray paint. Do some searching here and you will find a number of threads dedicated to that question with various alternatives discussed and even some examples as I recall. Seems like maybe Stove Bright has one of the best true high heat options, but it is very expensive.

There are at least a couple good dark gray colors for repainting the cabinetry. I just hope your rust damage is repairable and that the frame tube bottoms are sound enough to reinforce with some Rust Encapsulator or POR-15.

The lower end of the frame tubes, where the caster go in are in good shape, just surface rust. What’s with the silly “plug” at the back of the horizontal frame tube??? I pulled that out and found all sorts of rust powered, but the tube seems sound. Any concerns with a rust converter in there? Do those horizontal tubes need high heat paint? Thanks again for all the advice!!!!

 

[Bruce]

Those plugs are there to keep critters out mostly. I suppose they are intended to keep moisture out as well. The problem is there is many ways for moisture to get inside the frame anyway.
Generally you shouldn't have to worry about rust on the upper part of the frame except where the cook box bolts to the cross member. The ends with the caps always have some powdery surface rust but it would take decades for that to become a problem. The other area is the bottom of the legs where water collects and eventually rusts the frame out around the wheel casters. The drains in the inserts for the casters gets plugged with debris and then water collects in the bottom of the legs and eventually turns them into red cancer.
It might be a good idea to spray some rust converter inside the frame, especially in the problem areas I described above, but just removing the wheel inserts once a year or so and cleaning the legs out will ensure the problem doesn't persist.
The only place on the frame you would need to use high heat paint is on the upper part on just the areas that are adjacent to the cook box.

 

[Kevin L (NKY)]

Just for info I saw your lower panels on Seattle craigslist.
While talking with my brother.