Restoring a mysterious New Braunfels smoker

So, I am a new guy on this forum and a new guy to smoking meat....but my neighbor here in Houston put his New Braunfels offset smoker on the street for heavy junk day. So I got it for free.

Questions:
What model is this?
Was this a good meat smoker and should I restore it? (FYI there's no holes just a little rust.)
It looks like it was originally gray, if I sand it down should I switch colors to black or try to stay with silver/gray high heat temperature spray from HD/Lowes?
Sanding - use orbital sander or drill with 5" 80 grit sanding disks with my corded drill? Steel wool/brillo pads?

I appreciate any thoughts.

Jason

SmittyJonz said:

... Powerwash it, Sand it , Paint it, Add a convection plate, Oil it and Fire it Up. :heh:

Click to expand...

Cool, I'm power washing it today. I googled Smoker Convection Plate. I'll try to figure out what size and where to get one. I'm sure there is a place in Houston that makes them. Thank you for the idea. I also read about lowering the internal smoke stack. We'll see.

Update on my progress:

• I power washed it, sanded it with angle grinder wire wheel and in some places used a sanding disc 80 grit. I wiped it all down with a wet rag, dried it and then spray painted it with Rustoleum Ultra High heat temp paint. I seasoned it with vegetable oil.

• I made a wire charcoal basket for the fire box.

• I also made a modification and added an aluminum plate between the Firebox and the Cooking Chamber.

• I also sealed up a small gap between the Firebox and the Cooking Chamber using Permatec RTV Red Gasket Maker.

Next steps: I have to learn how to use this thing and what wood to use with what meats and for how long at what temperatures. I will clean the grates up and put those in the grill and do a test run and see where it smokes, where the hot spots are.

Should I make the smoke stack longer some how?

Been fun! Thanks BBQ Brethren!

Jason