Well, that wasn't fun! (Fixing up the old Weber Genesis Silver.) (Pic intensive!)

[John B.]

When I met my wife, five years ago, she had a gas grill that was already about five years old. She had cooked on it a few times, but it wasn't until I came into the picture that it really started seeing some use. Recently, it started having issues; it wouldn't light off the igniter, the back burner would go out when I opened the top, and the enamel was flaking off of the grates. We decided to replace the grill a couple of months ago, did the research on a new grill, and decided to pick up the newest Weber Genesis Silver from Home Depot for somewhere between $500 to $550. A funny thing happened when we got to Home Depot though; we ended up buying a Vision S-Series Professional kamado grill for $630!

We decided to keep the Weber gasser around and just fix it up. Today I finally got to unpack the parts and get to work on it. I didn't preform a full restoration; I don't have the time, patience, or resources for that. But hopefully I've stretched the grill's life for another five years if we're lucky!

So here is how she looked when I started this morning.

The grates were shot.

And I'm ashamed to admit this, but I let it get this full of junk!!!! (But it turns out it wasn't all my fault!)

Here is why the igniter wasn't working!

Old burners actually didn't look too bad, but were burning unevenly and inefficiently. And as I had already mentioned, the back burner would go out when I opened the lid.

Here is the serial number info. Can anybody place the year for me?

 

[John B.]

Here is part two!

I took the firebox off the frame, and also removed almost everything from the frame. The frame is showing bad signs of corrosion with bubbling paint. I didn't tackle any of this as I'm afraid the frame will be too thin in spots if I try knocking the rust back.

I was very surprised when I started cleaning out the firebox and I found out why it was filled up with junk. My wife bought the grill preassembled, got it home and went right to cooking with it. It appears the grill was assembled and the drip tray and insert were just dropped into it. She cooked on it like this, then I cooked on it like this, and that's why the firebox filled up!

Here is everything set aside to be cleaned.

And this is the pile for the garbage.

I also took apart the lid and cleaned up the hardware and lid thermometer.

I also took off the Weber badge, painted it, and then ran it over some sandpaper to bring out the raised letter.

I painted the lid sides, and hand polished the enameled part of the lid.

At some point I also scrapped out the firebox, washed it, and painted the exterior. I started reassembling the grill and put new guts in it. I used a new burner assembly I sourced from Amazon.com; that turned out to be a PITA. The kit had two front burners so I had to modify one of the burners with a Dremel tool to work on the back. I also had to shim the front burner because with the screw all of the way in, the burner fell out with the slightest movement.

 

[John B.]

And part III!

I also had an issue with the igniter assembly I ordered; I ordered the wrong one! Luckily, the button from the old one still worked, so I used that with the rest of the pieces from the new igniter kit.

The "Flavorizer Bars" came with the burners, and seem okay. They probably wont last as long as the original pieces, but I figure I just need five more years out of this thing!

The stainless grates are from Weber by way of Amazon.

So, I got her all back together, and set up the gas to try it out. After firing it up, I was concerned it wasn't lighting. So I turned off the gas immediately and pulled the grates and first Flavorizer Bar out of the grill. That's when I learned that the grill was actually working! That ----ing bar was HOT! The burners are burning so efficiently that I couldn't see the flame!

The grill isn't perfect, but it's much nicer than it was. I hope my wife likes it when she gets home from work!

 

[Jeff MA]

Much better. Bet the Wife will be surprised when she gets Home.

Jeff

 

[Pat G]

Nice work. That should last quite some time. It will cookeven better than before with the drip tray on the outside.

 

[LMichaels]

I can't believe you even used it like that! Yuk! I don't think I would even want to eat anything from that LOL. I'm surprised you didn't have a conflagration from all the buildup in it. In a way you're very lucky. BTW those little 2 burners are sweet little grills. I think you'll soon learn just how sweet

 

[Brian Milam]

Very Impressed. Well done. Really looks good.
I'm kinda inspired to go search Craigslist now to look for a potential fixer-upper.

 

[Bob Ivey]

Nice job on the rehab. Looks like you did a wonderful job. That grill will last a lot more than five years. My current gasser is 20 years old and after the rehab, it should last another 20 years. Why put a beautiful grill out to pasture in five years when it will still do the job. Good luck and enjoy that beauty.

 

[Carlos Estrada]

Nice job! Just saved yourself $600 5 years from now, should work 20 years more!!

 

[John B.]

Well, I'm afraid with the cancerous rust on the frame that we wont get a really long extended life with this thing. The firebox and all of the other components are definitely going to go the distance!

 

[Rich Dahl]

Nice rehab John. With all that you've done if the frame goes south look around on Craig's list and see if you could pick up a beater with a good frame, they're a pretty common grill. Save you a bunch of money and get your 20 years out of it.

 

[Jeff Padell]

What did you use to clean the plastic table and swing up table? I wanted a new grill but my old silver B keeps on going also and my other thread I just found a Craigslist $50 Genesis gold only thing wrong with it the drip pan channels were bent person selling it didn't know you could just bend them back

 

[John B.]

What did you use to clean the plastic table and swing up table? I wanted a new grill but my old silver B keeps on going also and my other thread I just found a Craigslist $50 Genesis gold only thing wrong with it the drip pan channels were bent person selling it didn't know you could just bend them back

When I had all of the pieces out in the driveway, I sprayed them all down with Purple Power Degreaser. When I sprayed off the tables, all of the funk on them just came right off! I think I was lucky though.

 

[LMichaels]

Honestly that thing turned out so well you should fix the frame. It's not that hard and would be well worth it

 

[Jeff Padell]

When I had all of the pieces out in the driveway, I sprayed them all down with Purple Power Degreaser. When I sprayed off the tables, all of the funk on them just came right off! I think I was lucky though.

I went out with a magic eraser and it worked great on my two gassers, of course it was totally gone by the time I was done!

 

[Jeff Padell]

On the rust you can always do what I did with a roadside grill, I tore it down and made it into a patio table!

 

[John B.]

So I was all excited to have the first cook on the re-done grill...

...it fired, reached cooking temp quick!

And ran out of gas.

 

[LMichaels]

You got to be kidding ROTFLMAO

 

[PaulK]

You'll get a of life out of that - do not worry. The steel on those old ones was rather thick and as long as you sanded/repainted the rust areas I'd be surprised if it didn't last at least 10 years.

The secret to long life of parts inside the box (IMO) is not over cleaning. I never clean the grates on my gasser until the next time I grill -- that way all the grease and residue is there to prevent rust. The people that fanatically clean their grill after every use are the ones who end up with rust issues in my experience.

Enjoy your "new" grill!