BBQ Flavor Heat Shields Rebuild

Project:
Replacing the BBQ flavor heat shields with stainless steel ones

Difficulty Level (Easy, Medium, Hard, Insane):
Easy

Process:
The other day I decided I was going to finally give my BBQ (it's about 6 years old) a really good clean so I had the burners on high for a good 20 minutes to try to burn off all the grease. Once it cooled down I did some heavy duty scrubbing with my steel brush and ended up cleaning out all the crap at the bottom, underneath the grill too. I noticed that the heat shields (the angled pieces of metal that are sitting right above the burners to protect the burners from the grease) were in pretty bad shape and since I didn't really have any other (major) projects on the go I figured I might as well replace those.

I did some research and although they wouldn't have been super expensive, with the shipping and the waiting and all the 4 replacement parts would have been around $50 to $60 bucks. After work I took a drive down to D.R. Recycling to get some stainless steel (SS) sheet. I found a nice 24-gauge piece that was about the right size for only a little over $5 bucks.

Once I got home I took the least rusted heat shield off the BBQ, hammered it flat and traced 4 pieces on the new SS sheet. At first I tried to cut it with the tin snips but it was just a little too thick so I ended up using the angle grinder to cut it out. Once it was cut and de-burred I used some pliers to bend it in shape, fine-tuned it and voila, all done.

Pictures:

The piece of 24 gauge SS I got for $5 bucks

Tracing the shape from the old heat shield that I hammered flat

After the part was traced and the rough shape was cut out

Almost done

The new heat shield

Two of them done, one of the old rusted ones is on the right

All done

Ready for some major bacon

Tools:
Measuring tape
Jiffy marker
Angle grinder
Needle nose pliers
Sheet metal pliers
Level (to draw straight lines)

Materials:
15" x 32" 24-gauge stainless steel

Cost:
$5.10

Time:
2 hrs

Savings:
$50.00

Conclusion:
Looks good. I'll have to see how long it will last in the searing heat