FT-400


 
Paul Warner

Paul Warner

TVWBB Pro
I recently obtained a little used Weber flat top FT-400 which i have stripped and refurbished to a decent standard. In reality the grill just need a good
clean after standing idle for sometime. I fully stripped all components, resprayed the frame and removed the factory paint job on the inside of the Aluminum firebox.

Everything was in good order except the 8 inch wheels which i replaced with a better set off one of my donor grills. The 2 inch castors took some cleaning but came up ok, Weber do tend to cheap out on wheels/castors often which is irritating as these castors are hard or impossible to come by. The wheels are no longer available from Weber as they have been discontinued regrettably.

The grill came with the OG 9mm SS grates which are hefty and scrubbed up a treat tbh. I considered the full length spirit 300 sized griddle insert but ultimately decided to stick on course with team Weber Crafted. Having the frame already and most of the "inserts" it made more sense imo. Also, although the full size insert was bigger the griddle real estate over the carbon steel insert was probably not so great.

So, what was added to an already decent grill?

1x Carbon Steel Weber Crafted insert (discount obtained at Ace)
1x CI Weber Crafted Grates (reduced in price on Amazon unlike SS variant)
1x Modern gas connection (from donor grill)
2x Weber igniters
2x 8 inch wheels (from donor grill)
2x Beautiful custom wheel trims
1x Weber Griddle starter set

All in all a little extravagant for a refurb but ultimately pleased with the outcome as these do not seem to appear that often in this condition. Also, yes I am currently in an apartment and cannot use and yes I get strange looks in the elevator but that is nothing new tbh!!

Thanks



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Great work Paul! It looks wonderful. It is a shame about those wheels not being available anymore. I noticed the supply drying up for a while now.
 
LMichaels said:
Damn nice piece there! Just looks so weird, way up there in that condo indoors like that. Do you fire them up in there?
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for the photos its not such a bad backdrop but no I do not fire them up. Living Downtown is great apart from grilling tbh, I plan to get something portable for weekend use that I can keep in my truck. Plan A is the Weber 22 inch portable griddle with that fancy table when its available. Now, if weber did a portable battery operated pellet grill there would be a new plan A.
 
Congrats, Paul, on another beautiful restoration. :coolkettle: The Flat-Top is definitely not that common, so it's great to see one looking brand new and even better. Great job!

I have been tinkering with ideas on mine, but that will have to wait until tax season is over and weather is suitable. Mine came a lot rougher than the really nice one you landed, but I will do what I can. I hope we can have the summer get-together - it would be so cool to have TWO Flat-tops in action at the same time. I am sure some others could bring additional cool grills. Stay tuned!
 
That looks awesome. With flat top griddles all the rage in the US, you would think there is a good market for a flat top grill with such minimalist silhouette and modern lines like these Weber vintage flattops. Those flattop grills are so cool with the clever sliding top/tables.

Your FT-400 with the city scape in the background looks like it could be out of a sleek professional magazine advertisement. Beautiful restoration.
 
Mike-GA said:
That looks awesome. With flat top griddles all the rage in the US, you would think there is a good market for a flat top grill with such minimalist silhouette and modern lines like these Weber vintage flattops. Those flattop grills are so cool with the clever sliding top/tables.

Your FT-400 with the city scape in the background looks like it could be out of a sleek professional magazine advertisement. Beautiful restoration.
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Yep, looks like Chicago ad exec work! I knew the guy that developed “Morris” the cat! Chicago guy! Very nice fellow, retired from the big city and became an ad rep for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Why? I’ll never know.

Paul you must have access to some shop space or the bathroom in the condo must drive the super nuts!
What do you do in the Windy City?
 
Mike-GA said:
That looks awesome. With flat top griddles all the rage in the US, you would think there is a good market for a flat top grill with such minimalist silhouette and modern lines like these Weber vintage flattops. Those flattop grills are so cool with the clever sliding top/tables.

Your FT-400 with the city scape in the background looks like it could be out of a sleek professional magazine advertisement. Beautiful restoration.
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Well, to be fair the Gen 1's of the standalone griddles do have a similar minimalist design. In fact, it's the one of the few "cons" of the units according to the blackstone guys. lol. Although it would have been cool to see them add things like the sliding cover in two pieces that become the side tables.

This FT-400 is so cool it almost has me thinking of getting the Weber Crafted griddle for my new Genesis E-435 even though I have the 3 burner standalone griddle already. lol. Just an awesome unit.
 
Dave in KC said:
That is definitely a nice FT.
Paul, where do you do your rehabs?
I can't imagine trying to do that in an apartment.
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I use a workshop. Any spraying i do outside when its not windy!! most of the time is dedicated to cleaning especially the fiebox but i do prefer to shot blast but where I am it is expensive but this greatly reduces the cleaning time. I paint the frame still assembled rather than breakdown every last piece. its an odd pastime but weirdly therapeutic!
 
That one I am working on in the picture above was my first restoration from almost ten years ago, bought specifically with "flipping" in mind. Like most of mine, it was not much of a flip as I donated it to a charity auction, but it was a fun learning experience. Back then you could still get quite a few Genesis x000 parts from Weber. I spent WAY too much on restoring this "Target" charcoal gray special edition.

In the picture I am scraping off the tile cement the prior owner used to fuse a large piece of tile to the frame to replace the lost tray.

BEFORE
BEFORE Genesis 1000 Gray Target Model.jpg
BEFORE Inside Genesis 1000 Gray Target Model.jpg

AFTER
AFTER Genesis 1000 Gray Target Model.jpg
This was before I found TVWBB and learned from @Bruce, @Dave in KC and others about stuff like using a grinder and lots of other tricks of the trade. I had few tools at the time and cleaned the inside of this grill as best I could with SANDPAPER!!! I am pretty sure my flavorizer bars came from Dave Santana (through eBay). So, I knew a little about him even before joining TVWBB. I probably could have gotten a set of his grates, at that time, for what I paid for the stamped stainless ones.
AFTER Inside Genesis 1000 Gray Target Model.jpg


I made this poster to explain why this old Weber was so special!
Weber Poster.jpg
 
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