Working on SS Performers- Gummi Bear build log, pic heavy

[pbe gummi bear]

Hi, So I enjoy working on my Weber's as much as cooking on them. I have a sweet spot for the SS performers. I really enjoy the quality of the materials and how it looks all business like. I have had one for a while, but this past Friday I was able to acquire a complete red. This is my story. 

Red SS acquisition

So I have been cooking on a black SS for a while. It was in decent shape, but well used. Last Friday a red one popped up on CL about 25 miles from my house. The listing went up for $100 at 9:00am, I emailed them at 9:15am, and had it home that afternoon.

Original FS Thread: http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/trading-post/red-performer-$100/

CL picture:



I drove up to Tiburon on the Northern part of the bay. The view there was spectacular!


In the back of my truck:






Overall the Red was in good shape and even came with a user manual. Some rusting near the top handle welds, two small dings at the lid lip, and cracks at the welds holding the grate. Ashcatcher completely rusted out, snapped handle. Igniter did not work, but the gas would work when lit with a match.

I decided that I would keep the best parts of each of my performers and sell what was left over.

[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.





Tools

[pbe gummi bear]

Cleaning up for listing

I needed to give the frame a bath. I used a hose, some 0000 steelwool as a sponge, and a spray bottle of soapy water.

Rub a dub dub



The steel wool was able to get rid of the majority of the rusty stains and nicks on the frame. The surface was weirdly oxidized and had a very faint fim of rust on it. At first i used only 0000 to scrub it. It worked ok but was taking longer than I wanted.

Left side is before, right side is after using 0000 only. MAKE SURE YOU SCRUB IN THE DIRECTION OF THE SS GRAIN



I then let Bar Keeper friend soak on the surface for a few min, rubbed in with 0000 and let dry. In the meantime, I prepped my Black bowl. Here is the final result.


I then mounted the bowl on the cart so that I could clean that. I didnt have over cleaner so I just let some dishsoap soak.

Bowl before, sorry no inside pics:



I then scraped the bowl with my custom made scraper. The contour is perfectly curved to fit the bowl. The plastic is hard enough to scrape most stubborn grime, while not scratching the finish.



Last but not least, I mounted everything back on.

[Idahawk]

Listing ? Are you selling it ?

[pbe gummi bear]

Touch N' Go Gas assist repair

Sorry no pics here right now, but here is what I did to fix my igniter.

First I made sure that the there was still propane. I could feel the liquid in the tank, hear it when opened, and use a match to light the burner tube. But my igniter didn't work.

Here is my igniter fixing flowchart:

0. Make sure the igniter button isnt wet.

1. Is there liquid propane still in tank? Shake it lightly and feel for it.

2. Connect all the lines.

3. Are you getting good propane flow through the tube, and regulator? Open the valve on the tank. you should be able to hear the tank hissing when you open it and smell the propane. DO NOT STICK YOUR HEAD IN THE BOWL. If you don't hear the hissing or smell, close the valve. There is another brass valve parallel to the regulator hose. Make sure that little valve handle is open (pointing parallel to or along the hose). If you don't here hissing still your regulator is probably shot.

4. Try to ignite the flame with the igniter push button or a match. If the igniter button works, great! But it probably won't. If the match works you can skip the tube cleaning step 5,  but it is still useful.

5. Clean the burner tube. To begin fixing the gas assist pop off the clip at the end of the igniter tube. Removing this tube by taking off the igniter ground wire / element and loosening the tube clamp with a slotted screwdriver or wrench will make this a hell of alot easier. You dont need to remove the clamp. Just loosen it and pull the tube into the bowl. You can't pull the tube out without completely taking off the clamp because of the flat end that is wider. Look inside the tube. Chances are there will be ashcrud and cobwebs in it. Clean this all out with water. You can also use sandpaper on the tube to make it nice and shinier again.

6. Update: 5/2/14 with the igniter still assembled to the tube, push the igniter while peeking through the propane orifice side. If it's good you should see a spark. You might be able to do this while the burner is still on the cart but remove it if you need the space. If it's good, move to #7. If not, try the fix below. (Credit to Bman for the tip!)


Alternative way to test the igniter: Hold the igniter wires in one hand and push the buttton with the other. IT SHOULD LIGHTLY SHOCK YOU like static on a doorknob so if you easily yell expletives make sure there are no kids around. If it didn't shock you, your piezo is dead so buy a new igniter. If it shocked you, we can fix it!

Fixing igniter: Take some sand paper and lightly sand the igniter tip and ground until it's clean bare metal. It's pretty stout but be careful not to break it. Also make sure that the ground wire and bolt is not excessively rusty or you may not get a good connection. Mine was moderately rusty but it still worked.


7. Reassemble and retest. Everything should work now. If not, sell your performer and buy a big green egg.

[pbe gummi bear]

I sold the black one already. I offered it to Buckie with a WKC discount but he passed on it.

Listing ? Are you selling it ?

[pbe gummi bear]

Now that everything was fixed I dried the Black SS off, and staged my pics. It came out amazingly well. Total elapsed time: 1hr.

















I put it up for $150 around 9pm Friday. I had 2 people email me within 30 min. 6 more people by the time I woke up, and 13 people before I sold it. The first person wanted to pay me that day via paypal and pick it up on Monday. Unfortunately I had no place to store it until then so I called the second guy. He was really knowledgable about the performer and had alot of questions but ended up passing on it. Third person picked it up right away for $150 and everyone was happy!

To recap, I was able to sell the SS for a $50 profit minus gas ($10), time, and effort. I was also able to get a redhead SS for myself. The Redhead is a work in progress. Will update you all on that one shortly.

[AngelB]

If this was the "worst" parts then the red should be a show room piece when your done! Excellent job!!!

[jkolantern]

Super helpful and well detailed!  I'm looking at doing this to a green performer that I should be getting tonight. 

Then, I might create the first (that I've seen) SS C&B Grey and sell off a greenie.

[pbe gummi bear]

I almost made the SS with grey C&B two weeks ago but I hesitated on the purchase and lost it. :-( I'm excited for you though, I would love to see that combo.

Super helpful and well detailed!  I'm looking at doing this to a green performer that I should be getting tonight. 

Then, I might create the first (that I've seen) SS C&B Grey and sell off a greenie.

[pbe gummi bear]

Getting started on the Red SS. Before pics and ash sweep removals.

So the day after I set out to clean up the Red. The lid has some rust around the lid handles, two small scratches on the lid lip, and chipped porcelain on the bowl welds. It also had a rusted out ashcatcher.

Before pics:

Bowl and Craycorts


Rusted out ash catcher




Lid vent


Handle


Two lid scratches


Dings- also note the snapped off one touch handle


First thing to tackle was to remove the ash sweeper. I used a 5" variable speed angle grinder but you can also use a dremel or hack saw



The 5" wheel just fits. The ash catcher bar also protects the bowl


Make sure you cut right next to the Hex, otherwise the leftover metal will not fit through the hole. I was lucky because I only had to do one side.


Removed!


All this rust was just from the ash catcher:


Total elapsed time: 15 min

[pbe gummi bear]

Interior Bowl cleaning

I used easy off on the inside of the lid and bowl. I sprayed generously, closed the lid and left it in the sun for 10 min.

I used the ash catcher pieces to cover the bottom vent and contain the fumes.



after ten min I put on protective gloves, and scraped the interior bowl and lid with my trusty scraper. After that, I gave it a good hose down. Here is the after pic. I forgot to take a pic of the lid but its clean too.  New ash sweep also installed.



Total elapsed time: 20 min

[pbe gummi bear]

Polishing stuff.

I couldn't find red high heat paint so I had to hold off the painting for a while. I decided to polish the thermometer cover. First I used 00 steel wool and soapy water. Then I switched to 0000.

Before


After


Total elapsed time: 20 min

[MacEggs]

Wow! Nicely done! Thanks for sharing. 

Nice view, too! I remember visiting that area in the mid '80s when I was a teenager. 
A beautiful area, indeed.

[pbe gummi bear]

Wow! Nicely done! Thanks for sharing. 

Nice view, too! I remember visiting that area in the mid '80s when I was a teenager. 
A beautiful area, indeed.

Thanks, Mac!