Weber FT400

[LMichaels]

One awkward thing on that particular grill Steve. I wonder if it will work as well with stamped grates. I think due to no lid weber may be relying on the extra mass of those really heavy grates to help with cooking and heat retention. I could be wrong. But, worth a consideration. Nice you can save that unicorn for your friend

 

[Paul Warner]

Maybe @Paul Warner would have parts or know of a place to look.

I do have a FT-400 and a Gen 1 summit but regrettably no spare parts. I’d imagine parts are tricky to find. I am still on look out for a better control panel as one of my has the fade! At least burners are still available

 

[Jon Tofte]

Same here on spare parts - and faded control panel plus slide tables. Those parts unique to the Flat Top are going to be a really tough challenge, but as Larry noted earlier, the matching Summit parts are often available cheap - or even free - as those grills do come up for sale now and then. As Paul said, burners are currently still available, and I know from experience that Dave Santana/rcplanebuyer makes the flavorizer bars.

On the grates, I suppose cast iron or really heavy stainless would help with heat retention. On the other hand, as you can see in that Australian advertisement, at least down under they used stamped porcelain grates. With 50,000 btus in the same grate space as an older classic Genesis, there is no lack of power in these grills, but I don't have experience actually cooking on mine yet. I need an LP manifold and a Crocodile Dundee outfit first!

 

[Josh Dekubber]

Same here on spare parts - and faded control panel plus slide tables. Those parts unique to the Flat Top are going to be a really tough challenge, but as Larry noted earlier, the matching Summit parts are often available cheap - or even free - as those grills do come up for sale now and then. As Paul said, burners are currently still available, and I know from experience that Dave Santana/rcplanebuyer makes the flavorizer bars.

On the grates, I suppose cast iron or really heavy stainless would help with heat retention. On the other hand, as you can see in that Australian advertisement, at least down under they used stamped porcelain grates. With 50,000 btus in the same grate space as an older classic Genesis, there is no lack of power in these grills, but I don't have experience actually cooking on mine yet. I need an LP manifold and a Crocodile Dundee outfit first!

Those 9930s are getting more expensive everyday if you can find them. I have a couple sets of Dave's coming tomorrow. Now that he started making the 9930s again that might be the best option. I'll do a side-by-side comparison when they show up. Jon I think you already did but we'll see if anything's changed since he started making them again.

 

[Steve Hoch]

I got the burner tubes and flavorizer bars fairly clean and everything looks to still be in decent shape except for the spider guards. All four were melted. I have extras on those I think.

 

[Steve Hoch]

I've gotten the inside of the cookbox pretty clean by scraping and steel wool, pretty much the same process as cleaning the inside of a porcelain lid.

 

[Steve Hoch]

Front of cookbox from outside.

 

[Steve Hoch]

The panels that hold the flavorizer bars are stainless steel and removable for easier cleaning, I did not know that.

 

[Eric-NH]

Looks like it's REALLY cleaning up well. Cool project

 

[Josh Dekubber]

The panels that hold the flavorizer bars are stainless steel and removable for easier cleaning, I did not know that.View attachment 119473

Nice they look to be holding up ok. That's been one of the first things I've noticed to disintegrate in some of the summits I've had. Which is why a lot of times when you see them for sale the grates don't sit well in the grill.

 

[Steve Hoch]

Nice they look to be holding up ok. That's been one of the first things I've noticed to disintegrate in some of the summits I've had. Which is why a lot of times when you see them for sale the grates don't sit well in the grill.

Outside of the start of corrosion around one of the burner tube holes, everything in the cookbox looks really good.

 

[Josh Dekubber]

Outside of the start of corrosion around one of the burner tube holes, everything in the cookbox looks really good.

That's great! It looks to be in good shape.

 

[Steve Hoch]

Looks like it's REALLY cleaning up well. Cool project

Since I'm not getting paid to make it perfect it's coming along pretty quickly. I'll probably be done with it before I get the two new igniters for it.

 

[Josh Dekubber]

Since I'm not getting paid to make it perfect it's coming along pretty quickly. I'll probably be done with it before I get the two new igniters for it.

It's nice to see some of the details on this one even though it's so closely related to first gen. Summit. It's a rare and interesting grill.

 

[Steve Hoch]

It's nice to see some of the details on this one even though it's so closely related to first gen. Summit. It's a rare and interesting grill.

It is an interesting piece that I wanted to learn more about. So this stainless panel slides down and locks into place in the cookbox. It holds the grates and the flavorizer bars, for anyone that didn't know how these were.

 

[Steve Hoch]

I'll take some pictures of it in the sun when I'm done, but here's a picture of the lids after I finished cleaning them.

 

[Steve Hoch]

I'm almost done with this, believe it or not. I need to finish cleaning the grates and replace the igniters. I'm not painting anything, but it doesn't really need it. Weber said they didn't have that manifold clip in stock so I ordered one from parts select. I don't expect to get it though.

 

[Josh Dekubber]

Here is an odd thought and probably nothing.
Here is a summit 425 that I should have bought. Anyways look at the lower Stainless steel tables. They look very similar in shape and size to the lids on the FT400. Probably totally different but from appearance they almost look interchangeable.

 

[Steve Hoch]

Here is an odd thought and probably nothing.
Here is a summit 425 that I should have bought. Anyways look at the lower Stainless steel tables. They look very similar in shape and size to the lids on the FT400. Probably totally different but from appearance they almost look interchangeable.
View attachment 119484

Those might work, I could be wrong but I don't think those look like they belong down there anyway.

 

[Josh Dekubber]

I think the 425 is just less common. At least I haven't seen as many of them but I like the open cart with the lower SS tables. That's the model I like best from the first gen.