What's on the grill or smoker?

After the charcoal burns down a little ill start feeding it wood....when the smoke cleans up I'll get some food on

 

Yes, like a natural drafting fire that was unregulated other than the amount of fuel, raising and lowering the cooking surface is your only input other than letting your fire settle down.
The disc also had the 1" sq hole in the middle that we just kept a scrap of expanded metal over it to keep air moving through the center of the fire.
Definitely not a slow cooker, but doesn't have any problems cooking a 2" thick steak either.
I wonder if you could just put a few holes in the bottom and drop a notched disc in for the fire to set on? The radius of the disc in relation to the "bowl" on your new rig should provide a decent air space separation from the fire. ????
It's hard to alter something new and still pretty.

 

All I see is a good noontime dump coming

 

i have a new 19" round cast iron grate that doesnt fit anything....ill set that in there and see what it looks like...the bowl is 36"

 

Chorizo fatty in da smoke

 

right,im just wondering if it was like a forge and burnt your disc out....the way mine is now with only a 3/4" drain hole in the bottom should be like a "top down" fire im thinking....we shall see cause i gotta burn the paint off it and get the grate seasoned

 

Fatty lookin good....Buffalo chicken dip gettin goin

 

i got 20° on ya

 

Lookin good but not done yet

 

Buffalo chicken dip done

 

I agree that I wouldn't mess with it unless you see the need to. I just didn't see a drain-air inlet hole in the picture. That's a nice unit and I'd certainly want to take care of it.
I like the cast iron grate idea.

 

I would think a cover would help keep moisture out and reduce corrosion. Did you use one for your grill at all?

 

Scalloped taterz and chorizo

 

Yes, I found one of those aluminum snow "saucers" somewhere and then there's the domed top I made a u turn for off of a Weber kettle grill. It's helpful in cold and windy conditions too.
I can't complain about 10 years of service, by that time the 1/8 x 1 flat bar grating was ready for replacement also and made a good project out of it, hopefully for another 10.
I have a good collection of cast cooking grates from the transfer station. I used a pair of them rather than rebuilding with the flat bar.

 

I would put some thinner fire brick in the bottom. I built my first whole pig cooker 30 years ago and lined it with fire bricks. Still intact.