Old Style Fuel Gauge and a Griddle


 
G

G Schafer

TVWBB Pro
Last year I restored a couple of old Genesis grills, but I never got the old style fuel gauge finished. Here is the thread:

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Restoration Projects. 1992 Genesis 1 and Late '80's Genesis 2

I am restoring a couple of old Weber Genesis grills, and a quick Google search for info brought me here. I have three genesis redheads, one is inherited from my father. It was a Christmas present to Dad from Mom in the '80s. I remember helping put it together, and it was the first Weber gas...
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I scrapped the idea of painting the old ones, so some 1/8" scrap stainless steel was found in the scrap pile. I sent an original and the scrap steel to a guy that makes metal gaskets on a water jet. He also tried etching the gauge marks, but it didn't turn out the way I wanted, so I purchased a 1/16" end mill and chucked it into my mini mill and went to work.

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A little paint...

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Installed on the grills.
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Cooking corner on the deck:
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Today was a slow day at work, so I dug out some 1/4" steel plate from the scrap pile, cut, deburred and surfaced it and ended up with this:
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I griddled up some peppers and onions, and I'm glad to say that it was a complete success! It took awhile to get that plate hot, but it sure kept the heat! After dinner I dumped some water on it and the water still danced 20 min after shutting down the grill.

Gerry
 
Yah, someone has some skills. I have to ask where you got those stainless steel grill frames from????

Only one point of caution. I would be careful not to fire up that grill on full with that griddle on top. There is little room around the edges and you could build up too much head under it for the grill box to handle.
 
Bruce said:
Yah, someone has some skills. I have to ask where you got those stainless steel grill frames from????

Only one point of caution. I would be careful not to fire up that grill on full with that griddle on top. There is little room around the edges and you could build up too much head under it for the grill box to handle.
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Those frames were made by some of the pipe fitters at work.
I am aware of the potential for overheating the grill box. I fired it up on high and watched closely. There is a half inch of clearance all around the plate. I did notice some grease dripping into the grease tray, but nothing combusted spontaneously. I will be doing further testing to see how hot it gets down there and maybe after the griddle gets up to temp, the burners can be turned down. But yes, I will be monitoring it.

Thanks
Gerry
 
Well, you have some great grills there with the custom SS frames. I bet that 1/4" plate is heavy. :oops:
 
Bruce said:
Well, you have some great grills there with the custom SS frames. I bet that 1/4" plate is heavy. :oops:
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Yeah, it's got some heft.
It just occurred to me that with the griddle in place, any grease will flow around the edges of the box and probably not come in contact with the flame. If that is the case, then there should be no reason to have the flavorizer bars in there. That might help heat up the griddle sooner and keep it hot with a lower flame. Hmmmm.
 
The heating won't be quite as even, but I think the griddle would even it out. And yes, it will heat up quicker.
 
Awesome follow up on those grills. The stainless gauge is beautifully done and a masterpiece!
 
Those are really nice. On that griddle I would be mindful that it would be very easy to over heat and warp/crack that fire box. I would not run it wide open except for maybe brief warm up. The fire box could seriously over heat even before you notice it on the griddle. 1/2" is really not enough venting for the fire box IMO
 
OK, back to the drawing board and scrap pile. Found some 1/2" stainless plate and cut it a bit smaller to allow airflow. Added some short walls and ended up with this:IMG_20200325_153810040.jpg

It's heavy and takes a while to heat up, but once hot, it stays hot! I took the long flavorizor bars that were over the burners and stacked them on the ones that weren't over the burners. The short ones are stacked on top of the far left and right bars. It shortened the heat up time but I'm already planning to convert one or probably both grills to natural gas.

Cooked some asparagus and shrimp on it for dinner and it was a complete success!

Gerry
 
After cutting out that griddle, there was enough scrap 1/2" plate to make a couple of bacon presses...IMG_20200328_170013041.jpg

If I get them hot enough, I can smash and sear a smashburger from both sides at the same time!
 
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