question on late '90s Summit 450 LP restoration: what's the orange sealant on the lower aluminum sides for?


 
Kevin-PastaMan

Kevin-PastaMan

New member
Hi, I'm new to the board as I've started restoring my '98 (I think?) Summit 450 LP grill.

First, I'd like to thank you all for curating such a wealth of info! I've used the site many times to find parts I'm looking for, and also to confirm some parts (plastic rocker switch) are no longer produced. All in all, these forums have saved me hours of calls and internet searches - so thank you.

Now, on to my question for today: upon taking apart the aluminum sides from the steel bbq insert pieces, I'm flummoxed as to why there is a strip of orange sealant (caulking?) along the seam where the bolts/nuts connect the sides to the insert pieces (see image).

IMG_20211223_162140.jpg

Should I be careful to remove prior to cleaning (I'm using oven-off and various scrubbing tools) and carefully replace the existing pieces prior to putting it back together? Or should I try to replace it? (If so, which what?) Or do you recommend I just remove it?

Thanks again.
-Kevin
 
That is high temp gasket material. It is designed to hold in heat and smoke better. You can just scrape it off and when you reassemble, just replace it. High Temp RED RTV is what you want.
 
Yep, I am working on a full restoration of one, too. Mine had similar high heat caulk. I bought some new stuff in black for when I can try to assemble.

Glad to see your restore. Please take and post lots of pictures to chronicle your work. These aren’t the easiest grills to restore, with elaborate use of lots of hardware - and even caulk! And parts are hard to find. Still, they are the COOLEST grills, so don’t give up😎.

How does the front part of your firebox look? I mean the porcelain plated part with the holes for the burners. These are the one big weak point of these otherwise outstanding grills. Please post pictures when you can.
 
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It is a good example of the “extra mile” Weber went in making this grill. I can’t get over how many bolts were used compared to the still well built classic Genesis. They didn’t cut corners on the Summit but had a bad design theory in using porcelain coated steel for the firebox fronts and backs.

My theory is that they wanted the grease to flow more readily. Weber did the same thing in making the center flavorizer on the SmokeFire also out of porcelain plated steel. They used stainless on the rest of the flavorizer bars but found that the porcelain allows the grease to flow faster and more effectively. So, while it turns out that this doesn’t work well for longevity over the longer run, I now believe they did have a reason for their decision.
 
They did that on the E3XX grills as well. At least some of them. I am talking about using the RTV to seal the lid.
 
Jon, has my old grill. And yes that caulk is simply there to prevent leakage on the sides and also to facilitate production. I have to say the attention to detail on the quality of assembly of that product (ONLY that Summit generation) is second to none. I was always impressed with that. My huge gripe was with Weber themselves for not standing behind it to the end of it's warranty period and simply leaving me hanging. But it was built like a Lexus (my fav car brand BTW), with Toyota close behind
 
It was not right how they unilaterally changed the warranty on you, Larry. Of course, by then, it was no longer the same Weber. So now the 1st generation Summit is an orphan left for nut cases like me to keep a few of them alive. I will do my best to bring it back to new and give it another long run. It will take a while, like all my projects, especially with another tax season bearing down. Right now it is on a million pieces; I hope I can figure out how to get it all back together!

The big challenge, as you know, will be finding a fix for the firebox front.
 
There probably are laws against that if they fail to service a legit claim under their warranty. I would imagine they have even been sued under those circumstances. But, it is probably cheaper to pay off a few suits for small claims than to have to replace virtually every front cook box panel in all the Summit grills out there.
This is where Weber Customer Service is deficient.
 
Jon Tofte said:
It was not right how they unilaterally changed the warranty on you, Larry. Of course, by then, it was no longer the same Weber. So now the 1st generation Summit is an orphan left for nut cases like me to keep a few of them alive. I will do my best to bring it back to new and give it another long run. It will take a while, like all my projects, especially with another tax season bearing down. Right now it is on a million pieces; I hope I can figure out how to get it all back together!

The big challenge, as you know, will be finding a fix for the firebox front.
Click to expand...
Guilty as charged…
 
Bruce said:
There probably are laws against that if they fail to service a legit claim under their warranty. I would imagine they have even been sued under those circumstances. But, it is probably cheaper to pay off a few suits for small claims than to have to replace virtually every front cook box panel in all the Summit grills out there.
This is where Weber Customer Service is deficient.
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I would accept a new replacement Summit grill in lieu of a new firebox for my Summit Platinum D6
 
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Bill Pudim said:
I would accept a new replacement Summit grill in lieu of a new firebox for my Summit Platinum D6
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Don't hold your breath bro. They only offered me a coupon for a so called "discount" off a new Genesis" But, the catch was I HAD to buy it direct through them. I could have bought one cheaper from Home Depot than their offer. Yeah great CS
 
Jon Tofte said:
Yep, I am working on a full restoration of one, too. Mine had similar high heat caulk. I bought some new stuff in black for when I can try to assemble.

Glad to see your restore. Please take and post lots of pictures to chronicle your work. These aren’t the easiest grills to restore, with elaborate use of lots of hardware - and even caulk! And parts are hard to find. Still, they are the COOLEST grills, so don’t give up😎.

How does the front part of your firebox look? I mean the porcelain plated part with the holes for the burners. These are the one big weak point of these otherwise outstanding grills. Please post pictures when you can.
Click to expand...

On the front firebox piece, the gas tube and ignitor holes have widened considerably due to rust, and the top lip is quite pitted was well. The back piece has a rusted-out hole the size of a half-dollar, but lucky for me, my neighbor has a welding kit and is doing the repairs for me this week. I was planning to paint the aluminum sides with 1200F grill paint. Should I apply some paint to the new welds on the porcelain-coated steel box pieces, as well?

Today I finally finished taking apart the entire grill (every single piece...) and after two cans of spray oven-cleaner, a half box of SOS pads and lots of manual scraping with a carpet cutting tool...most of the inventory of rather clean pieces is in the 3rd pic below. This has been a fun project during my time off over the holidays.

I know the firebox pics look nasty (they were taken after to oven cleaner but prior to the SOS pads and scraping), but I'm super happy with how everything has now cleaned up. I didn't take the initial 'before' pics, but let's just say that I a family of rodents were living in this guy for a very long time...which is why I'm being so thorough about cleaning every single piece.

box2.pngbox1.png
summit1.png
 
I don't think you're going to be able to weld that up. Because first it's porcelain enameled steel, second that same PE is hiding a lot more rust than you can believe underneath it. So I am curious to see how if at all it turns out
 
Yep, trying to patch up that porcelain coated steel is going to be a rough job and will probably expose a lot more bare steel than you have now. But if you can do it, that would be cool.
I would not try to paint any parts inside the cook box. You run the risk of exposing your food to noxious fumes as some areas will clearly reach over 1200 degrees. Even at lower temps, the paint is not designed to be used inside a cook box.
I am also looking forward to seeing how this all comes together. Thanks for the pictures.
 
My first thought was to simply weld a piece of metal on the backside of the piece with the big hole...at least that should keep the heat in and keep the critters out.

Based on your advice, I won't paint any of the inside surfaces. I'll just paint the outside aluminum pieces for looks.
Thank you for that!
 
I hope you can make it work, one way or another, as these are extremely cool grills that are growing rarer by the day.

My idea at this point is to "sandwich" the front porcelain piece between two flat layers of stainless that have been cut with the same holes to line up. That should certainly buy plenty of time - even as rust continues in between. The issue is finding someone to make these at a realistic price.

Of course, the ULTIMATE dream would be to have a stainless piece custom made to replace the entire front (and back for that matter). Given the many bends, holes, and the special round fold - and the fact that the tolerances would be pretty tight - it is almost a certainty that you could just buy a really nice new grill for the $ that would cost. I plan to at least try to find out.
 
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