I picked up a DA code SS Performer yesterday. Took a week of negotiation, but finally got it to a price that I thought was fair. The grill is missing the charcoal bin, but otherwise complete. The propane tank was already OPD.
I have been thinking about a dedicated pizza oven grill, and one requirement is a big work area for staging pizzas, cutting up toppings, etc. With that in mind I set out to make a few changes
I know this modification has probably been done before, but this is my take on it.
First thing I did was reverse the SS lid:
I needed something to hold the table up, but did not want to go past the existing cart, thus allowing me to use my existing cover.
I drilled some holes, inserted bushings, and used a section of threaded rod. Acorn nut on the back, t handle on the front.
The problem, as you can see in the picture above, is that despite running the rod as low in the cart handle as possible, the table rests at an angle. I took the table section off and added a couple of notches:
There, now the table was nice and level.
I had an existing cutting board that I use for grilling. I took 1" off of it with a table saw - fits pretty well. I did have to take the push button starter out (to be relocated) in order for the cutting board to sit flat. The propane starter is still accessible by lifting the board, and the board is easily removed for cleaning:
To store the performer, I simply need to remove the metal rod and the table folds down. The cover still fits like a glove.
I was worried that the table might collapse since a good section of it is not supported, however, it is really strong. Short of someone sitting on it, I feel pretty confident that it will hold up just fine.
Since I already had the performer and the cutting board, total cost of the modification was $11.52 (rod, acorn nut, t handle, and bushings). It took me about 30 minutes to complete. The nice thing is that I can easily reverse the modification with the only visible change being the bushing at the end of the cart.
Winz