Remove top of stainless performer

[Dave O]

I am in the starting stage of my red stainless performer re build, I want to sand and repaint the frame but I am not sure how to take off the top of the hinged stainless panel any ideas -  help greatly appreiciated
Thanks

[mike.stavlund]

That 'axle' that the top hinges on is spring-loaded.  Get a putty knife or screwdriver or similar prying tool to pry it away from its position toward the handle side of the lid.  It'll pop toward the handle side.  Then you'll be able to gently flex the 'axle' to pull it from the frame on one side before sliding it out of the other. 

There should be some threads around here about touching up the finish on the stainless parts by sanding them-- very carefully and very straightly-- with 220 wet-or-dry sandpaper and stainless steel cleaner.  Or if they aren't scratched up too bad, some Barkeeper's Friend will work magic on cleaning them right up. 

Best wishes, and make sure you share some photos with us!

[Bman]

Inside the lid is a long 'hinge' that's nothing more than a piece of 3/16 (?) metal rod.  Flex the middle (of the metal rod) out until one end pops free.  From there, you're pretty much home free.

[pbe gummi bear]

Performer disassembly.

My goal was to take the best parts of each performer and keep that as the chassis for the red bowl. So I went to town disassembling the performer. I also didn't want to spend too much time on this build since I would be flipping it immediately.

Start:



The Bowl comes off the cart with 4 7/16" sockets. Don't forget to disconnect the ingiter and regulator before you remove it or they may pull back and cause you to drop the bowl. I also removed the tray above the gas tank and the storage bin. Both pull right off



Once the bowl is removed, you can take off the smaller SS panel. The larger SS panel comes off with this toggle bar underneath. Carefully put a screwdriver under and try it up. it should pop out, allowing you to remove the panel. This one was rusted so did not pull out like it was supposed to. I could have lubed it with pb blaster or liquid wrench but since this was a flipper i didnt want to spend too much time on it so I left it. It was a shame because this ss panel is  little better than then one I already had. Oh well.



Completely gutted. Note the surface rust. It took me about 5 min to get to this point. In the first pic you can see 7/16" hex bolts at the ends of the top horizontal bar. If you remove those, The top panel rectangle frame will pull up out of the vertical tubes. In the second pic you can see the hex bolts at the ends of the horizontal support that holds the dire shelf. If you remove those the left set of legs will come apart from the right set. The infamous star nuts are located inside those tubes.





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