Round Three Char-Griller mods - Pics are dead and gone!

BoilermakerFan · Posted: Jan 16 2007 Post subject:

No, the 6" was from HF, the 6' was from the Amazon... and she brought the Advil.
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My highly tweaked Char-Griller Smokin' Pro died many years ago... my Weber Kettle gave us 20 years of great food... Now i'm rocking an Oklahoma Joe's Bronco!

Ratmo · Newbie Joined: 26 Dec 2006 Posts: 39 Location: Peaster Tx

Wow, great lookin mods there. Looks like it came from the factory!
Lawdy, youd be dangerous with a wire welder!! Good job man Wink

Bedlam BBQ · Posted: Jan 16 2007 Post subject:

Brian -- your mods to that thing look great. Just about the time you get it all modded, you'll realize you need a bigger smoker. Laughing

At least you are making great progress on your mods as compared to my build project. More bad weather expected for this coming weekend as well.
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Steve

Stumper clone with Stoker
Bedlam BBQ
Competition Team

BoilermakerFan · Posted: Jan 17 2007 Post subject:

Thanks guys. There are more mods planned for my little C-G test mule.

I've already realized I need a bigger Rotissegrilloker... Now I just need a truck, a trailer, a welder, a new air compressor, and 1,500 pounds of steel! Oh, and a lot more free time!

I do plan to at least reload CAD on my PC and try to get a design drawn out with a couple of different options in it. Abingdonrowes put an idea into my head of designing an automatic log feeder for fireboxes and I think I have a design that would work when combined with a Stoaker or Guru.

Don't you just love the weather? I saw that they pushed the snow back to Monday for us, which is great since we'll be heading out of town this weekend to catch a concert in Cincy.
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My highly tweaked Char-Griller Smokin' Pro died many years ago... my Weber Kettle gave us 20 years of great food... Now i'm rocking an Oklahoma Joe's Bronco!

Bedlam BBQ · Posted: Jan 17 2007 Post subject:

Brian - have you even gotten to use that smoker yet? You've made all sorts of great improvements but it still looks brand new out of the box clean.
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Steve

Stumper clone with Stoker
Bedlam BBQ
Competition Team

BoilermakerFan · Posted: Jan 17 2007 Post subject:

Bedlam BBQ · Posted: Jan 17 2007 Post subject:

Well, what's my prize then??? Maybe I should get some of the first samples after you finally get to use this monster. That is too funny that you've made this many mods and you've never fired up the smoker yet. I sure hope you end up liking this thing Laughing

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Steve

Stumper clone with Stoker
Bedlam BBQ
Competition Team

BoilermakerFan · Posted: Jan 17 2007 Post subject:

Bedlam BBQ · Posted: Jan 24 2007 Post subject:

Brian -- when is the first cook going to finally happen on this wonderfully modded smoker? You probably have more invested into your mods than you paid for the smoker. lol

Can't wait to see pics of the first cook.
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Steve

Stumper clone with Stoker
Bedlam BBQ
Competition Team

BoilermakerFan · Posted: Jan 24 2007 Post subject:

I've made no progress since my last post. I'll be down for the count this weekend after a little outpatient surgery this Friday too, so it's been a painfully slow month. I have everything I need to finish it up except for warmer weather and free time! I'm just buried with work and family commitments until March.

Steve, my rotisserie alone cost more than the Smokin' Pro, but it will last forever and I plan to move it to my next cutom rotisagrillaroker. Aside from the rotisserie, I might have $125 in everything else, so it hasn't been a bad deal at all.

My cable was down last night till late this afternoon too, so I had Smoke Ring withdrawl symptoms.
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My highly tweaked Char-Griller Smokin' Pro died many years ago... my Weber Kettle gave us 20 years of great food... Now i'm rocking an Oklahoma Joe's Bronco!

Bedlam BBQ · Posted: Jan 24 2007 Post subject:

Brian -- I hope your surgery is nothing serious. Hoping for a speedy recovery for you.

Glad to hear you will be able to move your rotisserie to your next smoker as well after the expense you've put into it.

Give us a shout when you are heading back down this direction and we'll try to get together for a cold one.
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Steve

Stumper clone with Stoker
Bedlam BBQ
Competition Team

BoilermakerFan · Posted: Jan 25 2007 Post subject:

rcguy · Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 2 Location: Cape Canaveral FL

Your smoker Smile

is looking great Brian i like your rotisserie setup Mr. Green

BoilermakerFan · Posted: Feb 08 2007 Post subject:

Thanks Kev! Glad to see you joined! Head over to the Intro's forum and introduce yourself to everyone.
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My highly tweaked Char-Griller Smokin' Pro died many years ago... my Weber Kettle gave us 20 years of great food... Now i'm rocking an Oklahoma Joe's Bronco!

BoilermakerFan · Posted: Mar 17 2007 Post subject:

Well, it finally warmed up enough to get some work done.

I have the 1/4" support rods installed in both the SFB and cook chamber. I have the tuning plates cut to fit in the cook chamber, the heat diffuser formed, and the fire basket formed for the SFB. It still needs to be welded though.

I need to cut down the indirect rotisserie charcoal baskets a bit and cut out the contoured end caps and center brace from the spare 16ga. sheet.

I need to measure the exhaust stack with the extension to see if I need to reduce the extension's overall length.

No pics yet...
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My highly tweaked Char-Griller Smokin' Pro died many years ago... my Weber Kettle gave us 20 years of great food... Now i'm rocking an Oklahoma Joe's Bronco!

BoilermakerFan · Posted: Mar 18 2007 Post subject:

Here are some new pics...

The SFB basket ready to be welded. The 3/4" angle iron to hang the basket isn't shown in the pic.

Can you spot the mods on the end?

The 1/4" rods to hang the SFB fire basket.

Two of the three tuning plates and the heat diffuser plate. The diffuser still needs to be mounted. I'll used longer bolts to hold the SFB to the cook chamber with a jam nut, then use wing nuts to hold the diffuser in place so I can remove the diffuser when direct grilling.

Closer shot of the diffuser. Hand formed on a 6" vise. I wish I had a sheet metal brake. The rods do not interfere with the hanging charcoal grate and they will do double duty to support the side, indirect charcoal baskets when using the rotisserie.

An assortment of bearings to be tested with the E-Z Que bracket. Once the best size/cost is determined, I'll run the SS bearings till they seize, then replace them with ceramic hybrid bearings.
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My highly tweaked Char-Griller Smokin' Pro died many years ago... my Weber Kettle gave us 20 years of great food... Now i'm rocking an Oklahoma Joe's Bronco!

bobbyQ · Joined: 18 Mar 2007 Posts: 2 Location: Central Jersey

Greetings fellow smokers! This is my 1st post, I've been reading about the mods to the chargriller ,and finally decided to join. i've been smoking for about 1 year, and i've had pretty good results. But as we all know, great results are what we strive for. i'm confused about the smokestack extension, is it internal or external? I also use Lump for fuel,with logs in the sfb, but i'm going to raise the grate. Any help would be appreciated. Love my chargriller SuperPro w/SFB.[/url]

BoilermakerFan · Posted: Mar 18 2007 Post subject:

Welcome to the ring bobbyQ!

My stack will be extended both on the inside and the outside. My outside extension is removable and will store in the cook chamber so the cover will still fit and it won't stick out too far when just grilling.

As determined from other threads here on The Smoke Ring, the ideal length for the stack is approximately 3/4 the length of the cook chamber. This total length, so my 24" extension with the inner extension will be too long and cause the draw to be too high, which will cause the smoker to burn more fuel. I'm going measure the stack to be the correct length without the inner extension for when I use the SFB with my rotisserie. When I'm smoking on the grates, my total stack length will be a little long, but I'll just compensate with the exhaust damper. I haven't taken the actual measurements to determine what the correct length of the extension will be. Once I determine what it is, I'll post it here.
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My highly tweaked Char-Griller Smokin' Pro died many years ago... my Weber Kettle gave us 20 years of great food... Now i'm rocking an Oklahoma Joe's Bronco!

BoilermakerFan · Posted: Mar 27 2007 Post subject:

Here are a couple of pic of the diffuser mounted and the tuning plates bent to run the dripings to the center. That's not really a footprint, that's the marking from the "sheet metal brake." Wink

Here is the no-weld charcoal basket with the S-hooks to hang it. I used SS hardware. The screws are 10-24 with a lock washer and 1" fender washer on each side. The upper screws all have acorn nuts, but I need to buy (4) more to finish the lower screws.

Here's a pic of the seasoning burn after all the white smoke settled out and it was a nice faint blue, but it doesn't show up in the pic. Note the huge puddle of oil drip on the gravel under the cook chamber on the SFB side. I was a little surprised how much of the peanut oil ran out, but at least I know my new drain works and the C-G slopes towards the SFB. You can also see a line across my stack extension about 6"-7" down from the top. That's the cut line to bring the total stack height to be equal to 3/4 the length of the cook chamber. After it is cut down, it will be painted with texture flat black paint to match the Char-Griller.

The black plastic up against the garage door in the background is cover my stack of Sasafrass until I can get my wood rack built. The wife wants it off the driveway, so she's willing to let me have some "extra" free time to get the rack built! Laughing

I still have to finish the rotisserie mods and order my Stoker, but at least I can cook on it now! Cool

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My highly tweaked Char-Griller Smokin' Pro died many years ago... my Weber Kettle gave us 20 years of great food... Now i'm rocking an Oklahoma Joe's Bronco!

allsmokenofire · Posted: Mar 27 2007 Post subject:

That's awesome Brian, I've never seen a sheet metal brake w/ a Vibram sole before! Laughing

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Mike
Team Enoserv