Rust - Rust - Rust

Thanks. With 3 inches of mineral wool insulation, it gets just a little warm only around the door edges, so the paint should not discolor.

Thanks Scotter. Can't wait to do more smokin. Quite a change from the rusty mess. I'm going to have to put to sleep this post or call it something else.

Sorry for the misspell Scooter.

I'll be happy to help. First, can you give a description of what you have? What is the interior box made of? How is it assembled?

Yes it's very much like mine. I did take the door apart and replaced the insulation there. I chose the Brinkmann's element based on size and it did not have a thermostat as part of it. I saw the Pakstat thermostat with the display so that I could control the element from outside without having to open the food. They have a Pakstat I without the display that can work just as well when you have a dual remote temp probe. The shield is stainless steel and as you see in the photos sits on the floor, it covers the intake throttle and the element sits on it. I thought it would have better air circulation if the intake air was deflected around the element. My intake and stack are both 4" dia. stainless steel. That's what my metal shop had. 3" would work just as well. So far I have not opened my intake during my one and only smoke. Draft seemed good when I did open the door to check. The thermostat starts the heat at 150F, it does not turn it off completely, and can go up to 550F. There is a Pakstat model that goes to 300F but I wanted more heat to help in a burn off clean. I've gotten it up to 425F.
Make sure you take photos as you disassemble it. Expect to get new screws, the door was tricky taking apart and putting together. Replace all plastic with metal. I can give you names, part numbers and how much they cost for any part. Expect a lot of rust on the inside, you need to get rid of as much as possible. I treated the inside of the outer box with rust remover, got it from a welding supply store. Naval-jelly is a bit slow and expensive. I didn't grind it away fearful of going through metal. Once I remover as much rust as I could I painted it with Rustoleum high heat resistant paint. I did not paint the inside of the inner box, I seasoned it with food grade flax seed oil. There's good advise on SMF.
So far I'm happy with it, only one smoke so far. Don't know about hot/cold spots yet. I'm here to help you.