A few questions for you guys......

[JimV]

I just looked up my serial number. This grill is a recent purchase for me and has made me fall in love with the Weber products across the board. My Genesis Silver B is serial # DO0126130 and the Weber site listed it as a Silver B LP SWE Premium 2005 USA. This grill spawned me into going nuts and buying 8 Webers in the last couple of weeks....After a lot of grease cleaning I have come to realize I got really lucky with my first Weber because all of the freebies and others that I picked up just dont match up to my first acquisition. I gave most of the grills away and sold 2. The only other one I kept and I am restoring is a yr 2000 Silver B 3 burner green hood like my other 2005 grill. Although this older green is a mellow avocado green.

So now my questions.......
My 2005 is the only old schooler that I have seen with black knobs and black trim....am I crazy or is this not a common thing?
I think the black knobs are great because they dont show dirt. Which leads me into my next question....
Have any of you painted your knobs black? ....... Do u think it would hold up?

Do any of you have any suggestion for how to remove a dent from the hood of a Weber old schooler? Both of mine have small dents

My 2005 seems to have just plain cast iron grates....they are now spotless and I think they make the grill look nice. My year 2000 silver B came to me with Porcelain covered iron grates.....my question to you is.....which of the two is more desirable?

I just ordered some heavy 16 gauge flavor bars for my 2005 B..... Will it take significantly longer for the grill to heat up with those heavy bars in there? Did I do good by buying the heavier bars or should I have stuck with the original thinner ones?

Sorry for the long winded post....I cant help myself. I have gone out of mind for this Weber stuff...where do I get me a T shirt???

 

[JohnS NJ]

black knobs came with particular versions. It’s not common. I wouldn’t paint them.
I personally like the porcelain enamel one. Heavier and hold heat better. Plus they don’t make those anymore so.
the thickness is more for durability. Pretty inconsequential in terms of heating up Between 16 and 20

 

[Jon Tofte]

Chiming in...
The black knobs were a feature on special editions of the Genesis Silver in the last two years, 2005-6. I think the classic Weber design was losing ground to the flashy cheap stainless import grills, so Weber tried various things to give it a boost before rolling out the all new 300 series. Many of us here really like them. I would clean them well and then try several coats of something like Mother’s Back to Black or 303 Protectant. If you paint them they will look really nice, but most of us here doubt paint will hold up. I have, however, painted a gray sideburner knob to match using Krylon satin black for plastic. I just figured it have to be repainted from time to time.

I personally love the plain cast iron. It can sometimes be a lot of work, though, to keep well seasoned and the rust monster at bay. Plated cast iron is really nice when brand new, but inevitably the porcelain starts chipping off - and on to your food! A quality set of stainless rod grates might be something you would want to aspire to down the road.

I don’t think thicker flavorizer bars take a substantially longer time to heat up, but they sure do last better than cheap thin ones. You made a great choice!

Fixing a dent is a bit risky, I think, but Dave in KC with a lot of experience will hopefully give his advice on that.

 

[Dave in KC]

Fixing a dent is a bit risky, I think, but Dave in KC with a lot of experience will hopefully give his advice on that.

Post a pic or two and I will advise .... be warned though ... not a perfect fix, ever. Also, as Jon mentioned, can be risky.
I advised Kyle to give kettle lid a nice whack with a rubber mallet as I typically do, and I would imagine he would have
preferred that he left it alone. Kyle?

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

And another poor unsuspecting fellow falls into the clutches of...”Weberitis”!
There is no known cure, merely one must succumb to the fascinations of a wonderful way to spend hour after hour!
Welcome aboard, there are people here that have had every question you raise so, ask and you shall receive answers!

 

[JimV]

Hey guys thanks for all of the replies. I wasnt talking about the knobs on my 2005 B they are already black and still look like new. I was talking about my resto project the year 2000 Silver B.....it has the off white knobs that were just covered in grease when I got the grill. I used steel wool on them and they cleaned right up.

As for the grates....sounds like a tie so far on the poll. The only nod I might give to the plain cast iron grates is that I feel I can scrape them...brush them....as hard and vigorously as I want to. With the porcelain I feel I have to be a little careful with the wire brushes. They are both the same weight....very heavy grade.

I have enclosed pics......the dent is hard to see........u can see the black knobs........and the two diff grates are pictured

 

[Bruce]

Hey guys thanks for all of the replies. I wasnt talking about the knobs on my 2005 B they are already black and still look like new. I was talking about my resto project the year 2000 Silver B.....it has the off white knobs that were just covered in grease when I got the grill. I used steel wool on them and they cleaned right up.

As for the grates....sounds like a tie so far on the poll. The only nod I might give to the plain cast iron grates is that I feel I can scrape them...brush them....as hard and vigorously as I want to. With the porcelain I feel I have to be a little careful with the wire brushes. They are both the same weight....very heavy grade.

I have enclosed pics......the dent is hard to see........u can see the black knobs........and the two diff grates are pictured

Yah, I didn't think you were talking about painting the black ones. I figured you were talking about painting the gray ones black. It has been done. I think Jon actually did that and another member or two. I haven't heard of any problems so far. I do know that the black knobs are very hard to come by and I wish I had a bunch of them for my rehabs.
To clean up the gray ones, soak them in some bleach water for a few hours (50/50 mix). Then take a brush or used green scrubby and some cleaner to them and they will come back like new 90% of the time. Then a coating or two of 303 Aerospace protectant will keep them looking good.

If the porcelain grates are in good shape, they are a good idea. But, once the porcelain starts chipping, it is time to dump them unless you want to see the dentist. But, if they are in good shape, you should be able to use a brush as hard as you want on them. Your CI grates look almost new. They will serve you well. My choice always will be the solid rod Stainless Steel grates due to performance, and especially ease of clean up and life span.

One last thing. All those others grills are what we call "Parts Grills". you could have mixed and matched a lot of better parts off them onto your two current grills. That includes the lids. Even though the lid styles changed in those years, they were all designed to fit any Silver B or Genesis 1000 cook box. You could have swapped out the dented hoods for a better hood on the ones you got rid of. It doesn't look like your dent is too big though. Dave can probably talk you through fixing that.

This lid was a little beyond Dave's expertise though.

 

[JimV]

Thank you, and yes I did use my share of spare parts from those parts grills.......regulators....wheels....drip treys.....grates......they are all in my garage for future use.
Thanks

 

[Jim C in Denver]

Jim. On your grates.

I think what you have are the PCI grates (porcelain coated cast iron). Those were sold exclusively by Home Depot and those exact ones are now discontinued I believe. Heavy cast iron with some other stuff mixed in to help with the rust and seasoning. Work very well and easy to clean. Just don't go too hard on cleaning them that you chip away the coating. I like those grates the best (except for GrillGrates which is another discussion).

The thick solid stainless steel rods are real popular on here and work great. But my problem with any SS grate is that the wife insists that the SS grates be shiny not black -- which is a hopeless task. So no SS rods for me. That's why I ditched the SS stamped metal (i.e hollow) grates (which came with my Silver B) for the PCIs.

Then there's the enamel steel stamped grates. The shiny black hollow ones. Few on here use those. Last is uncoated cast iron. Those are the ones that require the most care for rust or seasoning.

 

[Chris Allingham]

I have gone out of mind for this Weber stuff...where do I get me a T shirt???

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[JimV]

Thanks......
As for the grill grates....sorry for the confusion but I have 2 grills and both have the iron grates......one has the porcelain covered iron and the other has just plain ole iron. I was just asking of the two which I should keep for my first string grill that I am definitely keeping. The other I might sell but after all of this scraping and cleaning...uhhhhhh might keep the second grill as well. On the second grill it is my first resto. I have it completely apart. Last night I found a freakin ant colony in the frame.....there were thousands of them!!!! It looked like they were feeding on the cocooned bugs that were in the tube with maybe some grease and cheese for desert. I accidently came across a good idea for removing the little dent in the hood....I didnt try it yet but I thought it might work. I had it upside down on a piece of cardboard....was thinking a couple of love taps with a rubber mallet might work.
One last comment. It appears to me that the older 2000yr model vs my 2005 has a thinner hood am I correct?

 

[Bruce]

If your lids are of the two types, one with the more square design and one with a more rounded design, then yes, I do think the newer one is a bit thinner.
As for the grates, the porcelain covered ones are great, but once the porcelain starts breaking up, they need to be tossed.
Your plan for popping out the dent in the lid sounds reasonable. I would use several layers of cardboard and maybe leave a hole under the dent. Just don't get too aggressive.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

I think I might lay the lid on a sandbag rather than the cardboard, just a suggestion.

 

[Richard in NS]

A fellow on the WKC site dyed the plastic handle on his kettle black. I wonder if you could do it with the knobs on a Genesis. I don't know how to add a link so try this.

Black label.

Black label.

weberkettleclub.com

 

[Bruce]

Richard, I am Definitely going to try this out. I have several sets of older gray knobs and handles that I would love to turn black. I just wonder where I will find a pot big enough to put the Genesis Silver B handles in????

 

[Richard in NS]

I would appreciate that as I only have one set of knobs and was afraid to try in case I ruined them. It is on my 3000 with a wooden handle so I don't need a long pot.

 

[Jim C in Denver]

I haven't tried this, but it should totally work.

My kid was a lacrosse player and kids in that sport routinely dye the white/gray plastic heads of their sticks into all kinds of designs, team colors, two tones, letters, etc. Lots of Youtube videos showing how to do this.

A turkey fryer was the tool of choice for the RIT dye jobs.

If you wanted to, you could do your handle something other than plain black. For example, if you had a red head. You could dye the whole handle red first, then put on tape or stick on letters, then dye it black. Or leave the middle red and dye just the ends black. The finished handle would be black with red letters, stripes, accents or tie dies. And if you screw it up, just dye it all black.

To get it all black, do it in two steps. Dye one end first, then flip it over and dye the other end.

 

[JimV]

Lost my mind and went hog wild on my year 2000 Silver B.....I guess I am in it to win it. Im gunna fully restore the ole classic. I had no intention of taking the frame apart but I saw ants going in and out of a frame tube so I had to dive in. I must have killed 1000 ants!!!! I came up with a great way to clean the rust out of the frame tubes.......long drill bit extension that electricians use to run wire through walls attached to my drill....and I zip tied some aggressive steel wool over the drill bit part and ran it in and out of the tubes. I went to Harbor Freight to buy the brush cups but they were sold out so I bought a 5" wire wheel for my grinder and it worked great. I have it all disassembled and prepped for paint. By the time I was done wire wheelin' I had carbon and grease dust all over my face and a heavy coat on my face mask. I will paint this week and reassemble, I cant wait to see how great it looks. I know it doesnt make much sense to clean the inside of the hood but couldnt help myself. I even scrubbed the wheel sidewalls.......its amazing how steel wool cleans up most areas on the grill including the wheels. I will post a pic when I am done.

 

[Bruce]

Jim, I am going to try the straight black thing, but then I might have to give the colored thing a shot too.

I am doing a green head Genesis 1000 right now and I could imagine yellow knobs would have the Packer fans salivating here in Wisconsin. I wonder if it would work to dye the Durawood slats alternating yellow and green???

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

The durawood might take the dye better than the knobs, the surface “feels” more porous, that would be a serious “fan grill”! Have you ever had the maple bars at the doughnut shop across from Lambeau field? They are some of the best I’ve ever had.