Doug Ashby
New member
Hey Everybody,
I have been inspired by many of the posts here and wanted to say how happy I am with my new(old) weber gasser. I have always had a Weber kettle . I had a cheap gasser that I bought at home depot with a gift card that lasted about 3 years. I mean the thing just fell apart and even worse it was really not getting hot enough and wasted a lot of gas. I took it to the dump and was so happy to be rid of it.
After looking around here I decided to start watching craigslist and found a older spirit around the corner from where I lived. Even better it was a redhead!. The guy selling it had bought the home and it was in the garage. It came with a cover and I got it for $40.00 bucks.
Here are some before after restore picks.
Cover in good shape:
Grates OK.some rust on the PCI's
The control Panel was missing the screw downs otherwise just needed cleaning.
The Flavorizers are in great shape,just a little rust on the bottoms:
The Burners were also in great shape no rust or holes
No rust on the frame, I am not liking the gray racks on the bottom.
I got on the phone with weber customer service and with the serial number I was able to find out that this is a 1997 sprit, HOLY COW 1997! I was directed to where to download the original manual and parts schematic. I did not need many parts but the total order came to around $95.00. Customer service is so great and the reps really know their stuff, the rep waited on hold to let me look at something on the grill while I had them on the phone. Just a great experience.
So, I needed to replace the wood parts myself. While waiting on weber to ship out the parts, I called a buddy who is a woodworking hobbyist. We set a date and I came over with the old wood and some Oak stock I had left over from a fencing job. Plus a cooler of cold ones.
First we had to plane down the stock.
Making the new Handle was the hardest part, My friends tried a couple times before getting one close enough to the original. I think they did a great job. I was doing sanding duties the whole time because me and routers are not a good mix.
Here my new(old Grill) Now I could have painted the lower fire box but truth be told I was in a hurry to start using the grill. I can do that another time.
I ended up getting new grates, I had a store credit at home depot and saw they had them cheaper than weber direct.
600 degrees in about 8 minutes! to hot for camera to focus with the heat waves coming off it.
This grill works better than any gasser I have ever used. Better still is my wife really likes it, I am not always at home during dinner hours and she hated the other gas grill we had because it was hard to light and she was just afraid of it. I don't blame her really.
Also this grill is so efficient, We have used it for hours and it uses about 1/2 the amount of gas that my junker did. I am very happy with this Redhead.
I have been inspired by many of the posts here and wanted to say how happy I am with my new(old) weber gasser. I have always had a Weber kettle . I had a cheap gasser that I bought at home depot with a gift card that lasted about 3 years. I mean the thing just fell apart and even worse it was really not getting hot enough and wasted a lot of gas. I took it to the dump and was so happy to be rid of it.
After looking around here I decided to start watching craigslist and found a older spirit around the corner from where I lived. Even better it was a redhead!. The guy selling it had bought the home and it was in the garage. It came with a cover and I got it for $40.00 bucks.
Here are some before after restore picks.
Cover in good shape:
Grates OK.some rust on the PCI's
The control Panel was missing the screw downs otherwise just needed cleaning.
The Flavorizers are in great shape,just a little rust on the bottoms:
The Burners were also in great shape no rust or holes
No rust on the frame, I am not liking the gray racks on the bottom.
I got on the phone with weber customer service and with the serial number I was able to find out that this is a 1997 sprit, HOLY COW 1997! I was directed to where to download the original manual and parts schematic. I did not need many parts but the total order came to around $95.00. Customer service is so great and the reps really know their stuff, the rep waited on hold to let me look at something on the grill while I had them on the phone. Just a great experience.
So, I needed to replace the wood parts myself. While waiting on weber to ship out the parts, I called a buddy who is a woodworking hobbyist. We set a date and I came over with the old wood and some Oak stock I had left over from a fencing job. Plus a cooler of cold ones.
First we had to plane down the stock.
Making the new Handle was the hardest part, My friends tried a couple times before getting one close enough to the original. I think they did a great job. I was doing sanding duties the whole time because me and routers are not a good mix.
Here my new(old Grill) Now I could have painted the lower fire box but truth be told I was in a hurry to start using the grill. I can do that another time.
I ended up getting new grates, I had a store credit at home depot and saw they had them cheaper than weber direct.
600 degrees in about 8 minutes! to hot for camera to focus with the heat waves coming off it.
This grill works better than any gasser I have ever used. Better still is my wife really likes it, I am not always at home during dinner hours and she hated the other gas grill we had because it was hard to light and she was just afraid of it. I don't blame her really.
Also this grill is so efficient, We have used it for hours and it uses about 1/2 the amount of gas that my junker did. I am very happy with this Redhead.
