Bandera Restoration

So far so good. I can take anything apart, but putting it back together w/o any parts leftover is sometimes challenging. I still have a 6" bolt leftover from changing the water pump on my old '88 Grand Wagoneer :doh: last year. But it does not leak so i figured it was not really necessary.

I wish mine looked that good.

Following this thread with great interest.

I've worked on a couple of those. Yours looks like it's going to restore OK. During reassembly, I propped the firebox up on a 5 gallon bucket shimmed with a 2x4. Kind of redneck, but hey, that's BBQ.

Did you get the racks? I like the ones I made better. I used 3/16x1" flat stock and layed out a rectangle. Welded up then sheared out pieces of 3/4-9 expanded steel and welded it on top. They fit good, clean up well, plenty strong. A guy on this forum named swamprb has that cooker now. I've borrowed it back twice, cooks real good!

I remember welding the open seams in the firebox (on top, where the cover seals) and sanding them flat. Really helped cut down on leakage and flames burning the side of the paint on the cooking chamber.

My buddy glued gasket around the inside of the door, flat, so it sealed. Didn't make that much difference on temps, but now you don't see smoke leaking out.

I kept the grill grate holders in the firebox and made a full sized grate to hold logs. I put the grate on the lowest position. Raising it up like that really helped get better airflow underneath the fire. I also used thin firebrick and borrowed a buddy's tile saw to cut it cleanly to fit the bottom of the firebox with firebrick. That helped with the temps a lot.

If you want to cook hot and fast (350) on a Bandera, don't use the water bowl - just take it out. Else I kept water in mine. Worked great. Those are real good cookers.

Hope you got an OK deal on it. I sold my last one recently for $250. Seemed high to me but I got lots of calls (Seattle area).

seattlepitboss

I should have taken mine apart but I just sanded and painted.

Looking forward to reading and seeing how a restoration is done. I'm looking to purchase an old kettle and try the restoration.

My neighbor just put one at the curb and it was gone in 30 minutes

Looking good so far

Hey, did you know your smoker fell apart?

Jeff

Looking great from here! Cool as heck that you are restoring such a venerated peice of BBQ history. Never owned one, got into this too late, but obviously a huge following here. Cool pit. Nice post.

Looks like it's coming along nicely! Try some high heat gloss auto engine paint. I'd stay away from the regular stuff.

Nice, looks good to me

That's a fine looking restore ya done there!

Good looking Bandera:thumb:

Great looking !! Well done!!

Don't beat yourself up! Looks brand new. The before and after pictures show a huge contrast. Great job!