BGE Restoration for BIL

Backstory time, months ago I picked up a Large Egg with neat and Eggmates that had a crack in the base for a couple hundred bucks. My plan is to fiberglass and insulate the inside of the basement and make it into a beer cooler to match my eggs (I planned to post that once I get to it). I planned to keep the fire box and ring as spares to my large just in case and tossed the mates aside in my garage as they were nasty. I did a clean burn to clean off the internal parts and set everything aside.

Fast forward to fathers day weekend and I took my Mini-Max to my sisters house to do a prime rib for my folks and sisters family and my BIL was intrigued by my Egg, he’s a big BBQ guy being from Argentina, and I could tell he was really into it until he heard the cost of a new Egg. Later my sister told me she’d love to surprise him with one but knew he’d be mad if she spent that level of money. I told her I’d keep my eye open for a good deal and let her know.

Low and behold I found a large missing a fire box for $300, I offered to restore it as a birthday gift for him if she bought it. I picked it up and did a complete cleaning, gifted him the fire box and a new grid I happen to have and got a NIB new style hinge assembly off eBay for way cheap. I cleaned and restored the daisy vent and then remembered the mates. I sanded and oiled the wood with Linseed cleaned and painted the metal with a few coats of high temp cast blast and a few coats of high temp black and replaced the rusted screws with stainless steel screws and finish washers.

She’s all set for her first burn in a few weeks when I haul her down to them. We ordered custom handle for him but it hasn’t arrived yet, I also picked up an integrated nest for less than half the price so gifting him that too.