I would hope some corp directors/cio's see this and send this kid some spare parts for a great effort. Those scumbags at IBM could care less about making this into a better story by helping out.
He's getting help from some IBMers via MAIN. I suspect sidechannel support may be viable.
I've only done a small bit of MF work, but the old-school IBM mainframers I've met (usually at conferences) have always been exceptionally helpful and friendly. It's a fairly small community. Young blood is often quite welcomed.
And those beasts will likely be around so long as there's mains power.