Matthew-zclass
New member
Hello everyone, I purchased this BBQ off of craigslist for $30 about a week ago and finally had time to clean it and fire it up and I think everything is in working order, but I just have a few questions if I may. I did a really basic cleaning, just scraping some of the soot on the inside off, but went pretty light because it seemed that these giant paint flakes were coming off too with ease and I didn't want to damage the interior of the box. Was I right or are those just large flakes of char? And a few more questions regarding cleaning, can I use oven cleaner on the painted, or enameled parts? there was some real heavy grease on the back, but I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to strip the paint. And last question about cleaning, how do I get the white marks on the sides of the box off? Those ones bother me the most visually.
Moving on to the more performance related questions, I'm just gonna start from the top and work my way down. The thermometer, should the soot be cleaned off it for better readings? Is it very accurate at all? do the grill grates need to be replaced? The flavorizer bars are badly rusted, should those be replaced or are they still serviceable? also the top rack has a ridiculously thick amount of soot on it, is there a quick way to remove this or would replacing it be a better option or is it just fine to leave as is? Anyways moving back down, the fuel rail looked fine to me except for the section connecting the two has completely rusted through, is that a big deal or does that need to be replaced? Also first time I fired it up the ignition worked first try and I was able to get it up to 550° relatively quickly, albeit there was a lot of smoke coming out of the grill, maybe because I lightly cleaned it? The next morning I tried doing the same thing and the ignition wouldn't work. Is this common to have ignition problems after a rain because of humidity?
And last of all just a few basic general questions, is this a decent grill to cook on or should I keep my eyes out for a 3 burner? Can I do indirect cooking on a 2 burner? Where is a good place to buy cast iron grill plates? Should I even consider this a somebody who is pretty green to BBQing? Any general advice, or anything you see in my pictures that I need to address? I can take more if it would help. I'd also like to replace the plastic table and handle with some wood components if that is possible, and maybe build a wood shelf on the bottom. What dimensions are the standard size for the wood planks? Is it readily available at home depot or lowes? Thanks for reading all this if you made it all the way through, I'm super happy there is a place like this where I can get advice and build knowledge on a 20-30 year old BBQ. Oh and regarding that, the serial sticker was completely faded/worn out and there was no way I could read a letter off of it. Is there any way other than that that maybe I can find the model and year of manufacture on this unit? Anyways, thanks again, hope you all had a great weekend.
Moving on to the more performance related questions, I'm just gonna start from the top and work my way down. The thermometer, should the soot be cleaned off it for better readings? Is it very accurate at all? do the grill grates need to be replaced? The flavorizer bars are badly rusted, should those be replaced or are they still serviceable? also the top rack has a ridiculously thick amount of soot on it, is there a quick way to remove this or would replacing it be a better option or is it just fine to leave as is? Anyways moving back down, the fuel rail looked fine to me except for the section connecting the two has completely rusted through, is that a big deal or does that need to be replaced? Also first time I fired it up the ignition worked first try and I was able to get it up to 550° relatively quickly, albeit there was a lot of smoke coming out of the grill, maybe because I lightly cleaned it? The next morning I tried doing the same thing and the ignition wouldn't work. Is this common to have ignition problems after a rain because of humidity?
And last of all just a few basic general questions, is this a decent grill to cook on or should I keep my eyes out for a 3 burner? Can I do indirect cooking on a 2 burner? Where is a good place to buy cast iron grill plates? Should I even consider this a somebody who is pretty green to BBQing? Any general advice, or anything you see in my pictures that I need to address? I can take more if it would help. I'd also like to replace the plastic table and handle with some wood components if that is possible, and maybe build a wood shelf on the bottom. What dimensions are the standard size for the wood planks? Is it readily available at home depot or lowes? Thanks for reading all this if you made it all the way through, I'm super happy there is a place like this where I can get advice and build knowledge on a 20-30 year old BBQ. Oh and regarding that, the serial sticker was completely faded/worn out and there was no way I could read a letter off of it. Is there any way other than that that maybe I can find the model and year of manufacture on this unit? Anyways, thanks again, hope you all had a great weekend.
