Weber Genesis 3100 Restoration


 
A

AustenSutherland

New member
Hey everyone. After reading up on this forum I've been itching to pick up a weber genesis to restore and got my hands on a 3100 from the late 90s that I'll use as my project over the summer. There are a ton of resources online, so Im set for the most part, but there are two things I'd like to ask this community.

1. There are some small scratches on the outside of the top of the lid (see photos). I plan to re-paint this grill red and I was curious if a few coats of Rustoelum high is sufficient to remove those scratches and end up with a nice smooth surface? Or if I will need to sand the surface down + apply a primer before painting.

2. I'd like to re-stain the wooden panels a more natural color but am unsure how best to remove whatever is on there currently.

Any guidance on the above would be much appreciated!

Cheers,

Austen
 

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Welcome to the forum Austen.

The lid is porcelain coated. You can paint it, but it won't last. It will scratch and chip off the porcelain enamel easily. You are better off finding a donor grill with a red lid. Just about any Genesis 3 burner grill from 1985 to 2005 will fit your grill so there are lots of red lids out there.

I beleive that gray paint on the wood. I would try some paint thinner first, otherwise sanding.

Keep us updated on how it turns out.
 
Yep, Bruce is dead on. You DON'T want to paint that hood. I have seen it done to look OK for a while, but serious cleaning is going to start taking it back off. I can understand you wanting another hood, so like Bruce says, just keep your eyes open for a donor. Looking at your picture, though, I could live with that for now. I personally like black hoods. They really pop when combined with lighter stained wood. Simple Green, some elbow grease and 0000 steel wool followed by some polish will make that hood look really nice in spite of those scratches.

I am not sure if your slats and handle have been painted or maybe more likely tinted with a gray stain. It will take some work, but I think you can get them down to where they could be restained with a wood color like this Minwax Golden Pecan if you want a really light wood look:

 
Thanks for the advice, everyone! I will work on cleaning out all the gunk on the inside / removing exterior rust + re-staining the wood while looking for a donor with a red lid in the interim. Will report back with progress and any additional questions that come up.
 
The inside of the firebox is not painted. The chips you see inside the hood are old grease from the past, heated up over and over again. The inside of the hood is black porcelain, and the inside of the end caps (sides of the hood) are made of aluminum, as is the interior of the cookbox itself. There was no paint applied to any part of the interior of the cookbox, so yes you can use that wire cup brush to clean it, but I'd use steel wool for the inside of the hood (the porcelain part).
 
Yes, please do not paint the inside of the cookbox and just be on the lookout for a redhead donor (not sure how common they are in The Great White North). Blue is nice too but that is becoming rarer. I wouldn't worry about the scratches on the lid as you have a very nice candidate for a restore and should serve you well afterwards.
 
You definitely want to treat the inside of the porcelain hood very differently from the cast aluminum firebox and end caps as THyde mentioned. On the steel wool, I would recommend you use 0000 fine grain steel wool and Simple Green. Another tool for the porcelain, oddly enough, is a mounted razor blade scraper. You just scrape like you were cleaning glass. As long as you run with the metal - and not dig into it - you will be able to "shave" that stuff off. The 0000 steel wool will get the rest.
 
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