The Big Tomato resto

[OGlenn]

Several weeks ago I shared the story of a red Wood Dale I saved from the scrapyard (http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/today-was-a-good-day/).  She has since been nicknamed the "Big Tomato" in my household because, well, it looks like a ripe red tomato. I decided to respect and restore the Big Tomato as best I could with what I had at my disposal. Here is a synapsis of my efforts, as well as a few before and after shots.

The bowl on this grill was in rough shape and required much of my attention as the sockets for the two wheeled-legs were hanging on by a thread and the front leg socket was a bit loose as well.  I decided to break off the two weakest sockets, patch the holes created from years of rust with QuikSteel, and remount the sockets after rotating them 60 degrees.  I used size 6 stainless steel socket bolts and nuts to minimize the size of the hole I needed to drill through the leg socket (using 9/64" diameter bit), the bowl and the 2" stainless fender washer I mounted inside the bowl for additional reinforcement. While the sockets were off, I was able to force out the legs and cutoff/drill out the thumbscrews.  After 50+ years of Northern NY weather, those two thumbscrews were unsalvageable, although I managed to save the original thumbscrew in the front leg. My local Ace hardware had ¼" thumbscrews which were a perfect match in any event, so thumbscrews are back in place.





In retrospect, I would have also removed the front leg socket to allow me to remove the front leg more easily.  Despite 10+ days of PB-blaster use, that leg wasn't budging without using a pair of channel locks. The result is an aluminum leg with some bite-marks, but as my goal was to keep the original legs, triangle, and wheels with the Big Tomato, I sanded it down a bit and reused it. The triangle was a bear to sand down as it was heavily rusted, but it is a slightly thicker gauge of steel that the current chrome triangles and shined up adequately. Perhaps all of the nickel or chrome plating had rusted off, but I saw no sign of either anywhere on the triangle. Perhaps these were originally just polished steel? In any event, that is what it consists of now. Ace sold the old-style axle caps so I went with new rather than reusing the old ones (which were nickel or chrome plated).

I used Jasco prep & prime to remove the rust from the wheels.  An overnight soak removed all of the visible rust and even exposed a significant amount of the original paint and whitewalls. This stuff works great, but enough paint had been removed over the years that the wheels needed repainting. Zavod informed me he uses white adhesive vinyl for the whitewalls so I obtained a pair from him. Definitely was the easiest part of the entire restore.

I don't have any of the old style smooth aluminum daisy wheels, so I made a couple from an aluminum sheet. I used aluminum set screws to hold them in place as I prefer the look to stove-bolts. I also have been unable to find the age appropriate hooked ash-catcher (nor do I own a twist-on ash catcher), so I'll be using a metal bucket for her cooks until I come across something better. I may try to make an ash catcher out of a pizza pan this winter if I have the time.

The QuikSteel was a bit frustrating as the material from first jar I used would not hold up, so I returned it. They gave me another jar and it worked well.  It is designed to withstand direct flames and heat in excess of 2000 degrees fahrenheit after curing. My plan is to use the grill a couple of times over the winter to allow it to go through some high heat and deep cold cycles and if it holds up as advertised, I will take the time to better polish it down.  I want to ensure it will last before taking the time to do it now and finding out it won't hold up. I did however dab on some red caliper paint to blend the patch in a bit. It's not a huge deal as the repair was to the bottom of the bowl.

So, the Big Tomato survived and while far from mint condition, she looks purdy to me. I think I'll fire her up for the Christmas Eve turkey dinner.

[mrbill]

nice work

[G$]

Incredible.  Thanks  for detailing it all.

[landgraftj]

Holy shit did that cleanup nice! Great restore.

[MacEggs]

Fantastic restore!   

[esq3585]

Superb job

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[Jeff]

Great job! What a grill to save. Would love to see a cook on it!

[AZ_MIKEY]

Nice job and a great save.

[tattooedant]

Nice job! Glad to see you finished it up.

[Ted B]

Very well done!  Does not look like the same grill. Enjoy cooking on her.

[MINIgrillin]

Damn nice!! Well done sir! 👍

[Golly]

excellent resto

top work

[Craig]

I have been waiting for this one to come out and holy cats you did a fantastic job with this! What a save and a sweet restore! I love the work on the small tabbed vents. They look authentic and original. 1 idea for an ash catching system since it doesn't have a U-clipped or twisty pan, could be to make a triangle ash pan out of sheet aluminum. It'd give the cooker more of a mid-late 50s look and it'd be a functional piece and look authentic to the early metal top handled cookers. A red MTH is a grail of mine for sure!

Great work!! 

[saxart]

You went the distance on this one.  Nice work.   

The Big Tomato lives!!

[OGlenn]

Great job! What a grill to save. Would love to see a cook on it!

I will definitely take and share a few pics when I put the turkey on her!

I have been waiting for this one to come out and holy cats you did a fantastic job with this! What a save and a sweet restore! I love the work on the small tabbed vents. They look authentic and original. 1 idea for an ash catching system since it doesn't have a U-clipped or twisty pan, could be to make a triangle ash pan out of sheet aluminum. It'd give the cooker more of a mid-late 50s look and it'd be a functional piece and look authentic to the early metal top handled cookers. A red MTH is a grail of mine for sure!

Great work!! 

Thanks Craig, coming from you, that really means a lot! Six months ago I would have never considered saving a rusty old grill, but the folks on this forum have perhaps unknowingly encouraged me to respect (and recognize) a piece of Americana.

I had not considered creating a triangular ashpan, but that is a great suggestion. Dazzo provided me with dimensions and a sketch of a U-clipped ashpan, so I may experiment with that if I find a cheap pizza pan. If someone who owns a triangular ashpan would be kind enough to PM the measurements to me (especially the depth), I'd appreciate it.