Well it's been a while but the bug got me again. I was having the itch to do an upgrade, at first I flirted with the idea of the Kamado S6 but decided against it at the current price level. I already own a WSM 18.5 and 2nd Gen Performer as well. I must say the 2nd Gen is my favorite of what I have been able to acquire. Love the look of it over the newer style, of course my grail would be to find a nice SSP. If that doesn't happen I am fine with the 2nd Gen.
So my quest began to see about upgrading the current setup, I knew I wanted the new table, although my current table is in great shape. I like the look of the newer one, and I assumed it would be easier to clean and not look as nasty between cooks. I also planned on installing the new style lid bail, as a lefty I have dealt with the original for a while, but the new one is amazing!
My other mission was to upgrade the kettle, from the Black one I had to a nicer color. As fate would have it I passed on the Red LE when they came around because of bad reviews. I should have paid closer attention, and realized that it was corrected. Alas, I missed my chance to have a nice Red Kettle I could have modded for the Performer. Thus began my new search, as luck would have it Weber in recent years has launched many nice colors in the Master Touch lineup, and the one color that is near to my heart is Blue. I tried to get a Blue Performer years back, but when it came in it was more Purple than Blue, a Crate & Barrel edition. So I sent that back and found my 2nd Gen for $125 on Craigslist.
So I arrived at Deep Ocean Blue, watched some videos on Youtube and the color appeared to be perfect. I ordered it from Weber and a few days later it was time to start modding. I wasn't as worried about the handles, as I was going to use my previous kettle to line up the holes with. I matched up the lid bail holes to get me on target. Once I had this done, I proceeded to drill out pilot holes and then enlarge. Pilot holes are CRITICAL when drilling these kettles. It makes it so much easier, and less fearful of messing up the drill location and
porcelain.
Next up was the gas tube, and oh my god if I hadn't found the blog post on adding it on the forums, it would have so been much harder! This was in fact the most difficult part of the operation. I spent more time verifying these measurements than anything else I did that day. Oh and did I mention the handle on the Master Touch is not centered,don't even try to use that as a guide. After an hour it seemed of verifying, I had my marks. My biggest concern was the clearance between the blades and the grate. There is very little room for error where the sweep clearance is concerned.
I learned something along the way and hope it will help others who try this. I tried to use the dremel with cutting blades, but was afraid to over do it and have an air gap. What the I did was to cut out a diamond shape with the tube markings. I then switched over to these shaped grinding stones, I was then able to grind away and test fit until it was perfect. I am sure some of you are more skilled at this than I am, but for me it was much easier to grind away and test.
This was not an easy project, but the end result is amazing. I love the look of the new kettle, and the new features make the upgrade worth while. I love the new cutouts for airflow, and the squeeze release of the new style ash pans. Also included was the warming rack which I have been thinking about for a while. It works well and will get a lot of usage.
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Weber Kettle Club
Topic: Deep Ocean Blue Performer Mod (Read 1599 times)
