Restoring a 1987 Weber Kettle

Well, I finally had time to spend working on my little project. The grill is now in seperate pieces and ready for cleaning. I also ran out this morning and bought the needed bolts, washers, nuts and screws in stainless so my parts are all ready to go when I am ready for them. Hopefully tomorrow time will allow me to clean all the pieces and if I am REALLY lucky maybe even start sanding the kettle.
 
I certainly underestimated the time it would take to properly clean the kettle. I spent about 2 hours on the bottom half of the kettle but finally have it all down to smooth porcelain except where there is rust. The legs gave me some grief when disassembling but a little WD40 loosened them up for me.
 
The entire kettle; top and bottom; are now completely cleaned. The bottom is masked off and ready for paint. I thought I'd see how the bottom goes (less visable) before trying to paint the lid. The handles and vents haven't been touched yet. I am hoping that I can get this up and going by Labor Day weekend. What a better day than Labor Day weekend to be able to inaugurate the restored Weber.
 
Update

Bottom is painted but still masked and top is masked but not yet painted. I am using Rustoleum Engine Enamel. I was going to use Rustoleum Hign Heat but couldn't find it in gloss black so I went with the Engine Enamel.
 

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Both sets of handles have been sanded; and sanded; and sanded; and sanded...but they turned out nice. I have the first coat of a satin poly on them now. The photo was taken when I was half way through the handles. I thought it gave a good representation of a before and after.
 

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How do you date your weber?

I have an old wood handled black weber, I would love to find the date on it. It was passed on to me about 8 years ago and still works like a champ.
 
There is a letter stamped on the vents; somewhere in the forums was a link to the weber page that contained that info. I'll see if I can find it for you and send it along to you.
 
I just finished restoring my 1995 Red (discontinued in 1997) 22.5 kettle. I didn't have much rust on the kettle, so I did not repaint that part. Instead, I used a professional sander/polisher with a polishing pad and some Megquar's fine cut polish. It came out nice.

The original finish on Weber Kettle's is porcelain, not paint, so I would try to avoid painting, if possible.

I took the wooden handles off, filled any cracks with wood glue, clamped them, and when the glue dried, sanded them and then used a deck stain on them.

The aluminum legs cleaned up with some metal polish. The steel triangle at the bottom got wire-brushed and painted silver.
 

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Dave, your's is looking good, too. It's good to see people restore old things instead of throwing them out and buying new ones.

I really wanted to restore mine because you can't get the red ones any more, but any old Weber is going to cook well, so why not give it more years of good cooking.

BTW, I actually dipped my wood handles in oil-based deck stain, and being so dry, the handles soaked the stain up like a sponge. I dipped them three times, then put them on a sheep of aluminum foil to dry. Hopefully, all that oil will keep them for a few years, before I have to do it again.
 
caseydog - I tried deck stain also but since I was trying to use what I had on hand the color of the deck stain didn't match the look I was going for so I used a satin poly and they came out great (so far) I need to sand them with 220 grit one more time and apply my third coat but the color is just wahat I was hoping for. They really have some character and yet are so basic. I'll post photos of the handles tomorrow or Monday after the final coat.
 
The entire grill is now touched up where rust was showing, handles are done so I moved on to the vents. The vents were a mess. It seems like there were times when this grill was used and then let sit out with the lid off allowing the rain to mix with the ash and run out the bottom vents. The effect is that the ash dried and hardened on the vents like concrete. With that said I ended up sanding the vents with 220 grit sandpaper. Admittedly this left the vents scratched but I felt they looked better with some scratches than they did with ash adhered to the metal. Here is a side by side, one cleaned and one as I found it.
 

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Hey guys, I just ran acroos this thread. I have a weber red I bought at an auction a few years ago that needs some repair. The kettle and lid are fine but I need new legs for it. The legs came off the kettle. I still use it like it is, I just put it on an old iron milk crate...LOL. My wife took pictures and says she's going to send it into HGTV and try to get an outdoor kitchen makeover. She says with that picture I should win for sure...LOL.
Can the legs be bought somehwere or is it worth messing with.

Thanks
 
rweller said:
Can the legs be bought somehwere or is it worth messing with.

Thanks
Click to expand...


Sure, go to Weber.com under "shop" then under "replacement parts". They have teh lower "kit" for the 18.5" & the 22.5" kettles. I think you will enjoy grilling with that kettle up a bit higher - - enjoy!
 
Here is a look at the finished handles. I was rather pleased at the transformation from what I started with.
 

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nice job on the handles. let us know how they hold up and if they get to hot. i use 0000 steel wool as the cleaning/finishing touch on the vents and legs.
 
Those handles look great!

My neighbor built a new fence, and stained it with deck stain. I liked how it went with my red kettle, and it was free. so, no historical research went into my choice -- I'm just cheap. :laugh:
 
caseydog said:
Those handles look great!

My neighbor built a new fence, and stained it with deck stain. I liked how it went with my red kettle, and it was free. so, no historical research went into my choice -- I'm just cheap. :laugh:
Click to expand...
I was too, I only selected from what I had on hand from previous projects. I applied two different stains and teh satin poly to the backs of one of the handles as a test. Finally decided on the satin poly but again, just like you it was cheap, already bought and paid for. Thanks for the compliment on the handles too.
 
Funny I found that exact same Weber kettle in my parents lake house tucked away in a shed. Brought it out, cleaned it up and it worked great! Looking for pics...
 
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