One Touch Plus and Statesman

[Foster Dahlet]

The N code One Touch Plus (OTP): I restored the triangle and the legs per the WKC Restoration Guides.  I bought the white leg cap at Ace.  The lid and bowl were in pretty good shape.  Most of the carbon scraped of easily after spraying with Simple Green BBQ Cleaner.  There were a few spots needing a little extra elbow grease.  Finished off both with a light buff using steel wool.  The lid vent was clean enough that I did not bother to spend a lot of time on it, other than fixing a bend in the tab.  The areas with chipped enamel were buffed with steel wool and given a coat of grapeseed oil. 

The ash pan, ash sweeps, thermometer and thermometer mounting assembly are all new, because they were all missing.  The handle strap was already bolted on by a previous owner.  However, it was bolted on backwards, which meant the thermometer and assembly would not install properly.  I fixed that issue. 

The charcoal grate and cooking grate were not worth saving and were replaced with new Weber grates.  The handle on the bowl was missing and the lid handle was not worth saving.  Therefore, I ordered handles from https://grillhandle.com . The wheels have new inserts from Chuck's Inserts https://www.facebook.com/chucksinserts .

It is a beautiful grill & I think it is more Red Mist than Red; at least it looks like that in the proper lighting on the lid.  I am giving this one away to a young couple as a housewarming gift. 



The Statesman:  One of the legs was seized up in the socket, and after several days of trying to use WD 40 Rust Release Penetrant with no success, I found a suggestion on this site to heat up the socket with a blow torch.  Problem solved.
   
I restored the ash pan, triangle, and the legs per the WKC Restoration Guides and added the white leg cap.  The lid and bowl were in pretty good shape.  Like my other restoration, most of the carbon scraped of easily after spraying with Simple Green BBQ Cleaner, although there were some difficult carbon areas on the lid.  Finished off both with a light buff using steel wool.  The vent was clean enough that I did not bother trying to make it look brand new. The areas with chipped enamel were buffed with steel wool and given a coat of grapeseed oil. 

The bowl dampers were all missing, but the rivets still in-tact.  Therefore, I had to drill out the rivets and order a new damper kit.  However, when the damper kit arrived, the stopper tabs of the new daisy wheels did not line up with the notches in the bowl.  Per a suggestion on this forum, I Dremeled off 3 of the stoppers on each daisy wheel, which fixed the problem.

The wheels are plastic but had the old whitewall stripe, which dates this grill to 1973-1976 per WKC.  The stripes were faded, therefore new stripes were added as suggested here, http://weberkettleclub.com/weber-grill-restoration-pinstriping-old-wheels/ , but with outdoor acrylic instead of enamel.  It should be ok, given the paint is specifically for outdoor use.

The lid handle was missing, therefore has a new handle from https://grillhandle.com .

The charcoal grate was roached.  I replaced it with a new Weber grate.  I salvaged/cleaned up the cooking grate, but dropped it into another giveaway kettle that I restored.  The new grate in this one is a 304 stainless-steel grate from Hunsaker, https://www.hunsakersmokers.com/collections/kettle-upgrades-mods/products/hd-stainless-steel-cooking-grate-for-22-kettle .  I found a used Slow n Sear 1.0 on FB Marketplace, which is in here.

I will keep this grill and look forward to cooking on it from time to time.  I never cooked on a daisy wheel before.  Thanks for looking!

[bamakettles]

Nice write-up and very nice kettle restorations you've done with these two!  How cool is it that you're giving one to a young couple to enjoy and learn on?  I think that's great.  I've given kettles to all my family - grown kids and in-laws too.  It really makes things fun to be able to share......

The Statesman is particularly gorgeous... love that era of MBH grills.  Keep up the good work and most importantly, the fun!

Cheers

[Mr.CPHo]

Nice restorations, I'm surprised the Statesman is your first daisy wheeler!

[JEBIV]

Awesome right up and grill pics. I love the pic with the reflection of the grate in the lid. RRR at it's finest and no surprise on the gifting part !!

[Foster Dahlet]

Nice restorations, I'm surprised the Statesman is your first daisy wheeler!

Cooked bone-in skin-on chicken thighs tonight.  Cooks like a dream.  Love it.

Sent from my LM-X420 using Weber Kettle Club mobile app