Underway: 2013 Spirit S-210


 
J

Jay D in Jersey

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After considering purchasing one of the newer model Spirits on CL, I tossed that idea and decided to restore my existing 2013 S-210 NG, which I bought used from CL in 2016 and has lived on the deck of our beach house on the NJ back bay. To say that environment is tough on anything exposed to it 24/7/365 is an understatement.
The internals are very good as I had replaced them already once with new burner tubes, ignition and these from Amazon :
GasSaf 15.3 inch Flavorizer Bars Replacement for Weber Spirit 200 and E210 Series Gas Grills (L15.3 x W3.5X T2.5 inch)(3 Packs) https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B076CC3LZ4/tvwb-20


The CI grates are in very good condition although one side has a small crack in one vane. I'll have to keep an eye on it. SS grates could be a good idea at some point.
The internals have held up extremely well considering this grill lives 50 yards from the bay.
The enclosure and base were showing blistering paint and rust. Nothing rusted through... yet.
The stainless hood and shelves are dotted with rust spots but they're the easy part which will be cleaned up with Barkeepers Friend and maybe some vinegar and 00 steel wool if necessary. I have two HF angle grinders and a fancy dancy new Ryobi cordless angle grinder and wire cup brush to start on the enclosure, door and support frame. I also have a cordless palm sander and a big old bag of assorted grit sandpaper from Amazon.... truly amazingly handy.
I found two cans of gloss Valspar gray for the frame. I'm looking for high heat gray for the hood caps and cook box. I also bought a can of clear lacquer which I'll use on the manifold after I wire brush it and disassemble and lube the valve stems. The enclosure base is the Achilles heal on this model series with the enclosure panels chasing a close second.

Ollie's is a great place to find decent quality paints and other stuff on the cheap.

Right now the cook box and hood interiors are soaking in oven cleaner overnight. I'll power wash them before the Arctic freeze tomorrow. Simple Green concentrate on the exposed frame and enclosure before the attack with the grinders and cup brush.
Rust Reformer as primer on the base and enclosure panels once stripped and sanded. Self etching primer on top of that for good measure and then finish coats and reassembly. I may replace some washers and hardware along the way depending on how they clean up.

I like how Weber uses, what appears to be, rather stout aluminum screws with plastic washers to prevent corrosion at connection points. Although using light duty, painted sheet metal for structural components seems counterintuitive.

Perhaps $30 all in? Not bad. Will post pics when I settle on a hosting site. Thanks for the knowledge I picked up here!
 
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Jay,
Sounds like you have an ambitious but well thought out plan. We will enjoy seeing it come to life. A lot of members here use imgur.com. I do, too, although I still have a lot of pictures on tinypic.com so I sometimes straddle between them. Imgur seems better overall to me, but my experience is that tinypic works easier on my iPad.

I can sympathize with your salt air challenges. It is hard not to be jealous of our friends in Arizona where finding 30 year old classic grills with no rust is no big deal!
 
Thanks for the hosting site information Jon.

Finding used Weber grills in any condition that are not stupidly priced in the Philly/South NJ market, is next to impossible. I belong to a surfing forum and there is a running thread titled: " Dudes smoking crack selling boards on Craigslist."

No different in this market for gas grills. :)
 
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Jay, sounds like you have a good approach planned for your rehab. Too bad a grill that new needs a full rehab. Where I live, we just deal with salt on the roads, it doesn't get to our grills nearly as much as our vehicles, but I can see what it does to metal of any kind.

Any way, you also live in an area where everything is more expensive to include the stuff on the "Dudes smoking crack selling boards on Craigslist". LOL Although, it may not ba as bad, but Wisconsin is not immune to Dudes smoking crack or whatever else is the flavor of the day.
 
Bruce said:
Jay, sounds like you have a good approach planned for your rehab. Too bad a grill that new needs a full rehab. Where I live, we just deal with salt on the roads, it doesn't get to our grills nearly as much as our vehicles, but I can see what it does to metal of any kind.

Any way, you also live in an area where everything is more expensive to include the stuff on the "Dudes smoking crack selling boards on Craigslist". LOL Although, it may not ba as bad, but Wisconsin is not immune to Dudes smoking crack or whatever else is the flavor of the day.
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Truth be told Bruce, I could skip over detailing the cookbox, hood and some of the cosmetics but not the base and enclosure sides. I like having the enclosed storage area. Storage space is at a premium where our beach house is... no matter how small. A smoker box, a bag of wood chips or two, a vegetable grill screen, etc...all better left out of sight.

I haven't seen any solutions for fabricating a replacement base for the enclosed storage models. I'm sure it can be done with wood or Azek or Trex composite materials but I don't have the workshop I used to have since we downsized a few years ago. So refurbishment is really the most logical thing.
 
Yah, do what you can and as far as a personal rehab goes, I wouldn't bother taking the inside of the cookbox down to bare aluminum. Same with the lid. Just quick scraping and maybe some scrubbing with a cleaner and some household steel wool. I would just get all the loose gunk off. It will only take a few cooks to gunk it back up any way.

Yah, that is some bad rust for a 5 or 6 year old grill. Keep us posted on the progress.
 
I am also rehabbing a Spirit E-210 Classic but not as in bad shape. Looks like I will have to replace the expected items like flavorizer bars and burner tubes. This model came with a front screen that is missing rather then a cabinet door, I never seen this before. Anyone know where to get the replacement front screen? I tried to call Weber support but they are closed today due to weather.
 
MJPebbs said:
I am also rehabbing a Spirit E-210 Classic but not as in bad shape. Looks like I will have to replace the expected items like flavorizer bars and burner tubes. This model came with a front screen that is missing rather then a cabinet door, I never seen this before. Anyone know where to get the replacement front screen? I tried to call Weber support but they are closed today due to weather.
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It sounds like the Home Depot exclusive model by your description. Does it have a removable round center grate of cast iron aka Weber's Gourmet Cooking System? We have one too in LP in our other home. It has four metal studs that a plastic screen hooks onto. A cost cutting gimmick. The door is better. But it came with a cast iron cooking griddle that fits into the removable insert opening. You got a griddle and lost a door.
I think Weber is likely your only source... or eBay with a little luck.
 
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Jay D in Jersey said:
Truth be told Bruce, I could skip over detailing the cookbox, hood and some of the cosmetics but not the base and enclosure sides. I like having the enclosed storage area. Storage space is at a premium where our beach house is... no matter how small. A smoker box, a bag of wood chips or two, a vegetable grill screen, etc...all better left out of sight.

I haven't seen any solutions for fabricating a replacement base for the enclosed storage models. I'm sure it can be done with wood or Azek or Trex composite materials but I don't have the workshop I used to have since we downsized a few years ago. So refurbishment is really the most logical thing.
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Jay

As for the base you always use a piece of 3/4 plywood. Have it cut at the local HW store and seal it very well. The current base might have some serious rust from underneath as well.
 
MJPebbs said:
I am also rehabbing a Spirit E-210 Classic but not as in bad shape. Looks like I will have to replace the expected items like flavorizer bars and burner tubes. This model came with a front screen that is missing rather then a cabinet door, I never seen this before. Anyone know where to get the replacement front screen? I tried to call Weber support but they are closed today due to weather.
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Ereplacement Parts has cabinet parts for the grills.
https://www.ereplacementparts.com/w...-e210-grill-parts-c-193079_193087_417537.html
It shows there is a door for around $100. But the best bet is to call Weber with the serial number. And often Weber is cheaper on parts.
 
The problem is, that 5 years from now, he will probably be looking at the same problem if he simply replaces it with the same part. At this point, if it wasn't salvageable and able to be cleaned up and repainted, I would probably go the plywood or some other material route. Just drop it in on top of the bottom panel. Probably wouldn't need 3/4" though. I think 1/2" would be just as effective and much less expensive. A can of grey spray paint would dress it up nicely too.
 
Bruce said:
The problem is, that 5 years from now, he will probably be looking at the same problem if he simply replaces it with the same part. At this point, if it wasn't salvageable and able to be cleaned up and repainted, I would probably go the plywood or some other material route. Just drop it in on top of the bottom panel. Probably wouldn't need 3/4" though. I think 1/2" would be just as effective and much less expensive. A can of grey spray paint would dress it up nicely too.
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I agree... plywood or even a sheet of corrugated roof panel cut to size from Lowes or HD. He didn't mention the condition or if he got the griddle insert which is actually very good to cook with. I use it regularly. Our LP E-210 is four years old and has been on our deck, which faces South, uncovered since we bought it. Not a spot of rust on it. Propane is cheap in SE PA too. Maximum $10 to refill a tank but I've paid as little as $7....from the Amish run place a few miles from where I used to work.
Same grill as the one at our beach house except LP not NG and black enamel hood not SS.
Having two of the same models makes life easy when it comes to replacing parts.
 
Jay D in Jersey said:
It sounds like the Home Depot exclusive model by your description. Does it have a removable round center grate of cast iron aka Weber's Gourmet Cooking System? We have one too in LP in our other home. It has four metal studs that a plastic screen hooks onto. A cost cutting gimmick. The door is better. But it came with a cast iron cooking griddle that fits into the removable insert opening. You got a griddle and lost a door.
I think Weber is likely your only source... or eBay with a little luck.
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This sounds exactly what I have. It never had a cover or was ever cleaned. I pulled the burner tubes that were caked up, cleaned up fine, it just missing the front screen. If that is all I need as well as a cover I'm ahead of the game & may even keep this one.
 
MJPebbs said:
This sounds exactly what I have. It never had a cover or was ever cleaned. I pulled the burner tubes that were caked up, cleaned up fine, it just missing the front screen. If that is all I need as well as a cover I'm ahead of the game & may even keep this one.
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You can make a front cover pretty easily I think. Perhaps using magnetic tape and a piece of galvanized sheet metal painted gray or black.
Likely whatever you make will be better than what Weber did with that screen. I hate it. Looks OK but is a pain to put on.
 
Stefan H said:
Jay

As for the base you always use a piece of 3/4 plywood. Have it cut at the local HW store and seal it very well. The current base might have some serious rust from underneath as well.
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Stefan, I thought about that. Surprisingly, the bottom of the base is in very good shape so I'm just going to put the cup brush and sander to it and prime and paint.
 
Jay D in Jersey said:
Stefan, I thought about that. Surprisingly, the bottom of the base is in very good shape so I'm just going to put the cup brush and sander to it and prime and paint.
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Yes this works too. I did this on a similar S320 I restored a few months ago. Just make sure you use some rust converter because otherwise it will continue to rust underneath the paint. This way you will get a few more years out of it.
In case you need an igniter module I still have one sitting in my garage which I have been trying to sell for months.
 
Stefan H said:
Yes this works too. I did this on a similar S320 I restored a few months ago. Just make sure you use some rust converter because otherwise it will continue to rust underneath the paint. This way you will get a few more years out of it.
In case you need an igniter module I still have one sitting in my garage which I have been trying to sell for months.
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I bought a can of Rust Reformer. Also, I found an ignitor in the attic of our beach house when I was working on creating some extra storage space.
 
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