Bridgeport Repair/upgrade

I got introduced to this list a few days ago: My second-hand Bridgeport
V2XT needs more than the air and power connections to start making
chips.

As far as I can tell the thing needs a replacement '286 motherboard, a
new hard drive, a new monitor, and a repair to one axis drive board.
I could probably get by with only the fixed drive board, but the rest
would be to much of a kluge for me to really feel safe. This is my first
experience with "mainstream" CNC (I have been programming an engraving
laser) so any help I can get from the software would be appreciated; I
am not likely to get much help from the old BOSS XT package in there
now.

The question is what are my options? The only thing I am not considering
is an upgrade package from Bridgeport. The whole thing is cost sensitive
since I bought the machine so I could work on a jet engine design I have
been playing with for a few years. The estimate I received from an
"inexpensive" machine shop for parts fabrication was far more than the
price of the bridgeport. Even with repairs and/or upgrades I hope to
easily beat the estimate.

Bill Lubarsky