My $10 thrift store bargain: Restoring a Weber Q200

[Jon Tofte]

The organization I work for has a thrift store, and the manager lets me know about Weber items that come his way. I had never really spent any time looking at Weber Qs for cooking or restoration, but for $10 I decided to give this one a try. It was pretty dirty and kind of tired when I received it:

The cast iron grate didn't look too good:

Inside bottom and lid were both a little sad:

With a lot of scrubbing, re-seasoning of the grate, some auto black trim restorer and paint, this little Q took on a whole new look:

I splurged for a new collapsible cart and a hose adapter to allow hookup to a full-size gas tank. Wow! I now have a great little burger, steak and grilled chicken machine ready to go anywhere! I have to say that I have kind of fallen in love with this little Q which cooks much better than I would ever have expected with minimal flareups, and it cleans up easily. It proved to be a great friend as we were recovering from hurricane Irma.

This is my first thread. I hope you enjoy!

Jon

 

[James N]

Welcome Jon....Thrift store find came out looking good.

 

[George Curtis]

Insane find. I would have grabbed it so quick I would have left a smoke trail. Did you leave the original red alone or did you repaint it ? Great job on the grate restore. And yes they are awesome grills.

 

[LMichaels]

Nice find and good job. Yes those are good little grills. Looks very much like my Q220. It's a nice red head. It's on a cart and I have the conversion hose for it. It's my rainy day garage grill. In bad weather I just fire it up (of course I leave the overhead door opened up) and I can do very nice "straight grilling" i.e. burgers, chops, chicken, kabobs, vegetables and so on. It's not as good for say ribs or things requiring a low and slow cook due to it's design. I've done them but you have to go through a lot of finagling around. Also getting wood smoke into it is not very effective either. Again can be done but takes time and effort. But it's one of the best steak and chop machines you can ask for

 

[TOM BAUER]

Excellent clean-up especially the grate, the price was sure right in spite of having to clean it up. I have a 220 that sits in the rv, and every time we use it I really appreciate its versatility to do more than just cook a steak. Mine came with the 1/2 Q griddle which works well for breakfast and I also use a cake cooling rack and aluminum foil for indirect cooks such as ribs or chicken. Great find and you will enjoy using it.

 

[Jon Tofte]

I did touch up the original red with high heat red paint. I was afraid of messing up the finish but next time around I will go a little heavier with a degreaser and a maybe some fine steel wool because it is bubbling in a few places. Thanks for looking!

 

[George Curtis]

Yea, if the original paint is bad then it has to be removed before repainting.

 

[Steve C in La Crosse]

That grate restore is incredible. How did you do it?

 

[Jon Tofte]

Thanks, Steve. As bad as it looked before I started, what appeared to be rust and peeling metal turned out to be only old food and grease. It did take a lot of scrubbing to get it all off, but when I did there was no rust and very little damage. Even though it is porcelain coated, I figured that some cast iron was exposed so I seasoned with a Crisco stick and baked it in my regular grill at low temperature for an hour or so.

I try to clean off any crud after each use, but I personally do not do "burn-offs". I re-season each time with spray grill Crisco before putting away. (I do give it a decent long pre-heat before the next use and then re-spray before cooking.) The grate is now almost jet black; not as squeaky clean for show and tell but wonderful for cooking!

Jon

 

[Jon Tofte]

Thanks, Tom. I am sorry I didn't reply quicker. When I jumped in with both feet on this little Q I also picked up an unused example of the older Weber griddle for the Q. It stands on top of the grate rather than replacing it. The airspace between I guess allows it to be the full width of the grill. During Hurricane Irma we were without power for a few days. Had a whole package of bacon that had to be used or tossed...It was just me and my son, so I am sure you can guess. Redneck supper of way too much outside cooked bacon! It helped make up for putting up tons of shutters on our campground and feeling a little third world without electricity. My son told me to just keep on cooking!

The Q is now VERY COOL in my book. Besides being a very effective grill, it is a great way to cook bacon and not have to hear about grease and smell from my wife!

Jon

 

[George Curtis]

The original coated grates really had little porcelain on them. So they did rust if not taken care of.

 

[Bruce]

Yep, the Q grills are awesome simple grills. I cooked for my family on a Q100 for the last ten years. I have also refurbed about ten Q grills from 320's down to the 100's and even a few Q140 electrics. Your grill looks typical for how they usually look when people want to get rid of them and sell them for $25. It is good your cooking grate was still in good condition. If that is bad, the cost of replacement is $50 plus and makes it a lot less of a bargain.

If you wind up redoing the lid, I suggest you completely strip it and then repaint. I did a red Q220 a couple months ago and it came out great. I used Rustoleum Red High temp flat paint and put a couple coats of clear gloss high temp to change it back to a nice shiny finish. The best way to strip them that I have found is to use an angle grinder with a 4" wire cup brush. I tried several solvents, but that weber paint is some real bad a$$ stuff.

 

[Jon Tofte]

Wow! Gorgeous red! Well that is something to aspire to. I never expected to wind up using this little grill so much, so it may be ready for another facelift sooner than anticipated. I really appreciate the tips; this group is a great source for experienced ideas. I am learning a lot.

 

[Greg Y]

Nice job for sure. The grate especially looks amazing.
So, somebody donated the Q to the thrift store? I can't imagine why. I picked up my first Q (a 100 which was also $10) from a young guy who was moving out of the country for his job. I had been curious about them, but when I saw the ad for a $10 Q that was only 10 minutes away, I couldn't get over there fast enough. He still had the original box and manual and it had been used very little. Apparently, he had cooked fish on it, because when I did an initial burn off, it gave off a strong fishy odor. Then it was fine after that.