Hello everyone,
First time poster here but long-time Weber Genesis fan. My dad had a one of the older Genesis grills for as long as I could remember growing up, and I always thought they were a stellar grill and loved cooking on it myself. I've now been living on my own for about 10 years (and without a Weber) and last summer I found this forum and it reignited my love for the old Webers. First thing I did was check craigslist and I found a 1996 1000LX for $50 and snatched her up since it was in amazing condition except for the flavorizers bars. I tore here completely down, fixed minor rust spots on the cart, stripped and repainted the fire box, and used steel wool to restore the lid enamel to a mirror shine. It really amazed me how easily these old girls can be fixed up to like-new condition for minimal cost and how great they look. Digging through the restoration threads, I found several where other members had custom-made new real wood rack slats (best example is here: http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/w...s/?PHPSESSID=a1049ee698b23df88ddd7886f893d7c6) and got the itch to try that out since I have wood tools I seemingly never use.
Here's a pic of the 1996 1000LX after the restoration. Who in their right mind would think a grill could look this good 20 years after manufacturing?
(sorry, I don't have any "before" pictures):
As I was about to start the wood-slat project on my 1996 this last week, I was driving around our town and noticed it was our town's yearly "spring clean-up" where people can set all their unwanted junk at the curb and the city goes around with dump trucks to take it all away to the city dump for free. It's an amazing program that gives people no reason to hold onto junk they don't want and keeping people's yards free of clutter. Well, I decided to go on the hunt for any interesting stuff since you can take anything that anyone leaves at the curb, and low and behold I stumbled upon a 2005 Weber Genesis B. She looked fairly neglected at first glance, but couldn't turn it down since it was free. The outside panels were covered in dirt and grime, the frame looked to have rust, the flavorizer bars are beginning to rust on the edges, it was missing a caster wheel, 2 of the control knobs didn't turn at all, and the bottom steel panel of the lower cabinet was completely rusted through. Seemed like a good challenge to me.
Here are some "before" pics:
After cleaning out the firebox and wiping down the controls panel:
I tore her all down (which I can't emphasize how easy this is on these grills), took out the rust spots in the frame and repainted, cleaned and repainted the outside of the firebox, got some new hardware for some of the severely rusted screws/bolts, completely tore apart the gas manifold controls and cleaned out some built up rust, and used some steel wool on the lid and stainless steel doors to clean those up. I bought some 3/16 stainless rod and remade the door hinges using the old ones as a template, and bought some new handles for the doors. A replacement caster and burners are on order from Amazon. I started cleaning up the grates and after scrubbing a bit, found them to be the stamped stainless steel ones (score!) and were still in great shape.
I then had the decision on what to do with the rusted-through bottom cabinet panel. I decided to make a wood-slatted tray similar to the link I listed above, and custom make some aluminum sheet z-brackets and a 1" square tube for supporting the doors on the front since that support was part of the formed steel bottom panel. I used cedar for the slats, routered the top edges, skipped the stain and applied 2 layers of varnish. I also added a galvanized steel plate to the back side of the square aluminum tube so the door's magnets had something to magnetize on to keep the doors shut.
Restoration pics are below for the 2005 Silver B:
Here's the old bottom cabinet panel
New Z-brackets test-fitted:
1" square aluminum tube riveted to the front of the z-brackets to act as the new door support and front finish piece
Varnishing the cedar slats:
Both of my gassers
Now I just need to paint the new bottom rack's aluminum parts black to finish her up. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out, I just hate the fact that the wood will be hidden by the doors when they're closed; maybe I'll just leave them off since I don't know if I'll store anything down there anyways. All in all, I only have about $85 and some elbow grease into this restoration for the grill (free), new burners, steel rod for the door hinges, door handles, new caster, cedar wood, and grill paint. Now I just need to find an elusive red/blue/green-topped one to work on.
Side note; I also picked up a 2008 Performer towards the end of last summer for around $100 to do some coal cooking/smoking, and as all the other webers I've ever used, she works flawlessly and has been great to cook on. I think I need to get out of my apartment before I lose my garage to a collection of grills.
First time poster here but long-time Weber Genesis fan. My dad had a one of the older Genesis grills for as long as I could remember growing up, and I always thought they were a stellar grill and loved cooking on it myself. I've now been living on my own for about 10 years (and without a Weber) and last summer I found this forum and it reignited my love for the old Webers. First thing I did was check craigslist and I found a 1996 1000LX for $50 and snatched her up since it was in amazing condition except for the flavorizers bars. I tore here completely down, fixed minor rust spots on the cart, stripped and repainted the fire box, and used steel wool to restore the lid enamel to a mirror shine. It really amazed me how easily these old girls can be fixed up to like-new condition for minimal cost and how great they look. Digging through the restoration threads, I found several where other members had custom-made new real wood rack slats (best example is here: http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/w...s/?PHPSESSID=a1049ee698b23df88ddd7886f893d7c6) and got the itch to try that out since I have wood tools I seemingly never use.
Here's a pic of the 1996 1000LX after the restoration. Who in their right mind would think a grill could look this good 20 years after manufacturing?
(sorry, I don't have any "before" pictures):
As I was about to start the wood-slat project on my 1996 this last week, I was driving around our town and noticed it was our town's yearly "spring clean-up" where people can set all their unwanted junk at the curb and the city goes around with dump trucks to take it all away to the city dump for free. It's an amazing program that gives people no reason to hold onto junk they don't want and keeping people's yards free of clutter. Well, I decided to go on the hunt for any interesting stuff since you can take anything that anyone leaves at the curb, and low and behold I stumbled upon a 2005 Weber Genesis B. She looked fairly neglected at first glance, but couldn't turn it down since it was free. The outside panels were covered in dirt and grime, the frame looked to have rust, the flavorizer bars are beginning to rust on the edges, it was missing a caster wheel, 2 of the control knobs didn't turn at all, and the bottom steel panel of the lower cabinet was completely rusted through. Seemed like a good challenge to me.
Here are some "before" pics:
After cleaning out the firebox and wiping down the controls panel:
I tore her all down (which I can't emphasize how easy this is on these grills), took out the rust spots in the frame and repainted, cleaned and repainted the outside of the firebox, got some new hardware for some of the severely rusted screws/bolts, completely tore apart the gas manifold controls and cleaned out some built up rust, and used some steel wool on the lid and stainless steel doors to clean those up. I bought some 3/16 stainless rod and remade the door hinges using the old ones as a template, and bought some new handles for the doors. A replacement caster and burners are on order from Amazon. I started cleaning up the grates and after scrubbing a bit, found them to be the stamped stainless steel ones (score!) and were still in great shape.
I then had the decision on what to do with the rusted-through bottom cabinet panel. I decided to make a wood-slatted tray similar to the link I listed above, and custom make some aluminum sheet z-brackets and a 1" square tube for supporting the doors on the front since that support was part of the formed steel bottom panel. I used cedar for the slats, routered the top edges, skipped the stain and applied 2 layers of varnish. I also added a galvanized steel plate to the back side of the square aluminum tube so the door's magnets had something to magnetize on to keep the doors shut.
Restoration pics are below for the 2005 Silver B:
Here's the old bottom cabinet panel
New Z-brackets test-fitted:
1" square aluminum tube riveted to the front of the z-brackets to act as the new door support and front finish piece
Varnishing the cedar slats:
Both of my gassers
Now I just need to paint the new bottom rack's aluminum parts black to finish her up. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out, I just hate the fact that the wood will be hidden by the doors when they're closed; maybe I'll just leave them off since I don't know if I'll store anything down there anyways. All in all, I only have about $85 and some elbow grease into this restoration for the grill (free), new burners, steel rod for the door hinges, door handles, new caster, cedar wood, and grill paint. Now I just need to find an elusive red/blue/green-topped one to work on.
Side note; I also picked up a 2008 Performer towards the end of last summer for around $100 to do some coal cooking/smoking, and as all the other webers I've ever used, she works flawlessly and has been great to cook on. I think I need to get out of my apartment before I lose my garage to a collection of grills.
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