So the barrels cost me 50 euros (~$55) each not including 12 eur/$15 in shipping. Pretty good price around here.
I went down to the hardware store today to get the bits and pieces necessary. Expanded metal (3 feet x 2 feet) was 20 euros, various plumbing bits were 15 euros, steel abrasive wheel thinger was 10, a small sheet of aluminum (for the top - I'm going to do a daisy-wheel style disk on top of the original lid and attach a small handle (3 euros) to it. I also got three cans of high-temp black spraypaint, 10 eur/$12 each. All told was 100 euros, $110.
Next stop was the BBQ store for grill grates. Grills around here are mostly square or rectangular, and are typically the old 50s-style brick ones you see in some older houses in the US:
And because Weber is (for the most part) made in the USA, the prices on a 22.5" round grate are probably not what you'd pay over there. 25 euros for the un-hinged ones, 30 euros for the hinged ones. I figured hinged might be useful at some point, so I got two of those and one unhinged for setting a water pan on top of as a way to avoid direct heat.
I also got some Lillie's Q Carolina Gold mustard sauce and some Stubbs pork rub to try it out.
After I got the kids to bed I used the abrasive disk to get some more of the paint and some of the rust off the exterior, which was a pretty tedious task.
I then, for the charcoal grate, tried my hand at arc welding, something I had only done one other time. I got out the angle grinder to cut the expanded metal to ~3 feet x 9", formed it into somewhat of a circle and temporarily attached the ends together using expanding drywall anchors.
Then it was welding time, and I think I did an OK job. I only melted through the metal in a few places, and considering how thin this stuff was I feel pretty good about that. Next step is to make the bottom for the charcoal grate and spot weld that on to the circle, and then cut off some angle iron I have sitting around to make some stubby legs.
Last photo, btw, is what we pay for Coors Light around here - $3 a bottle. Thankfully I'm a homebrewer and we have some really great French and other Euro craft beer for about the same price.