Some people are tinkerers, and I for one enjoy reading through some in-depth physical bug chasing like this. I certainly don't have the patience (let alone the expertise or equipment) to do it myself, but I'll sure as hell read about it.
It doesn't matter that he lives comfortably and could much more easily replace the hardware. He enjoys the process of taking something broken and making it useful again.
I liken it to spending hours configuring and modifying open source software when a paid option exists, if you have the expertise and/or interest. And doing that with hardware has the added benefit of reducing waste, which is something I admire.