Evening. I picked up a Summit from Craigslist last weekend. It was $200, but by Saturday morning it was free to just get it out of there. The person I got it from told me a few of the burners do not work so I took it to a local outdoor patio place and they said it was in good shape and I should just clean it up. I noticed bolts to the firebox were rusted out all over so I wanted to try to get it cleaned up and back to working order if possible.
I called Weber to see if there was any documentation on it and to try to figure out what the model number is. From the picture I shared with them they said it was a Summit 650 NG – pre2000 model number 271102. After reading on this site for about a week and tinkering around with it for a few evenings, I've now torn down the grill(as far as I'd like to).
Here is the current situation on various areas from what I've found.
Pros: Stainless steel seams good and probably could just use some good cleaning and it'd be good. Grates are in great shape. It comes with the smoker box and it looks good as well. Burner brackets and burner brackets are in good shape.
Cons: Burners and igniters needed to be replaced. I started to take apart the burner manifolds to clean the valves. I was able to get three of the six loose and cleaned up. The other three I was able to put PB blaster in them and used a heat gun to try to free them. I was able to get the stems to move up and down and then turn, but was not able to get the small bolts freed to get them completely out and cleaned.
All the bolts that hold the firebox are shot and need replaced. This includes the ones that hold the flavorizor bar brackets and the burner support bars. The lower back firebox panel is rusted out on the left side in the corner. Also, after I removed all of the stainless panels I noticed the rust on the top support bars to the grill frame.
So, before I pulled it all apart today, I was thinking a simple clean where possible, replace the burners and igniters and maybe sand and spray here and there and get it running to see if it was worth tearing it down in the fall and completely restore it. Now that I have it torn down (as far as I think I'd like to go) I am looking for recommendations. I've seen posts say to various projects, don't put any money into it because it's to far gone, and then other say, it's a good candidate.
I have limited skills to be able to grind surface rust here and there but I'm not a welder nor a good painter. I'm sure I could track someone down if it makes sense to restore the grill.
My plan was to use the grill as the family daily grill. I like the idea of the six burners for larger cooking area but if it's not worth savings I'd like to hear.
Thanks!
I called Weber to see if there was any documentation on it and to try to figure out what the model number is. From the picture I shared with them they said it was a Summit 650 NG – pre2000 model number 271102. After reading on this site for about a week and tinkering around with it for a few evenings, I've now torn down the grill(as far as I'd like to).
Here is the current situation on various areas from what I've found.
Pros: Stainless steel seams good and probably could just use some good cleaning and it'd be good. Grates are in great shape. It comes with the smoker box and it looks good as well. Burner brackets and burner brackets are in good shape.
Cons: Burners and igniters needed to be replaced. I started to take apart the burner manifolds to clean the valves. I was able to get three of the six loose and cleaned up. The other three I was able to put PB blaster in them and used a heat gun to try to free them. I was able to get the stems to move up and down and then turn, but was not able to get the small bolts freed to get them completely out and cleaned.
All the bolts that hold the firebox are shot and need replaced. This includes the ones that hold the flavorizor bar brackets and the burner support bars. The lower back firebox panel is rusted out on the left side in the corner. Also, after I removed all of the stainless panels I noticed the rust on the top support bars to the grill frame.
So, before I pulled it all apart today, I was thinking a simple clean where possible, replace the burners and igniters and maybe sand and spray here and there and get it running to see if it was worth tearing it down in the fall and completely restore it. Now that I have it torn down (as far as I think I'd like to go) I am looking for recommendations. I've seen posts say to various projects, don't put any money into it because it's to far gone, and then other say, it's a good candidate.
I have limited skills to be able to grind surface rust here and there but I'm not a welder nor a good painter. I'm sure I could track someone down if it makes sense to restore the grill.
My plan was to use the grill as the family daily grill. I like the idea of the six burners for larger cooking area but if it's not worth savings I'd like to hear.
Thanks!
