Sorry to all of you who offered good advice. My grand plans on upgrading my shop took second place to other endeavors, some of which were not so grand, and some that were very grand indeed. But now I'm back to it, and just this week finished revamping the switch on the saw.
I found this: http://powertecproducts.com/71007-11...paddle-switch/ and devised a way to mount it below the Bies fence, similar to the solution posted above by Scott Schwake but using existing bolts. It works fine. . . . But I don't...I keep reaching for the now non-existent switch under the table. I'll get used to the new location, and I really DO like the panic paddle to turn the saw off.
One of the problems with the modification my friend made was that the oval hole for the original bullet motor was now huge, and had no cover. Needless to say, the result is that almost as much sawdust wound up outside the saw as piled up inside the cabinet. So I made a box of some scrap hardboard as a test for a future sheet metal solution. But the hardboard works great, if somewhat ugly, so the sheet metal solution may not happen for some time.
Anyway, guys, thanks again for all your advice. It's good to have sawdust in my hair again and Titebond under my fingernails.