LinuxCNC Lathe Retrofit ... Where Do I begin?

I have a small CNC job shop in my garage. I currently have a Sharp SV-2412SX VMC with a Fanuc control. I need to start taking some turning jobs. I have an Emco Maximat Super 11 manual lathe that I was thinking about doing a LinuxCNC conversion on. But the more I think about it, I want a heftier, more capable CNC lathe with an ATC. But I am not ready to drop another $25k+ on used machine.

Someone local is selling a Mazak QT8 with a CAM T-2 control for $2500. It needs work and it looks like a good candidate for a LinuxCNC retrofit.

I'm a software engineer by profession. I don't know much about LinuxCNC yet, but I am learning. I'm currently going through some classicladder tutorials, and HAL tutorials as well to get my head around what it takes to do a retrofit and better understand the LinuxCNC ecosystem.

Do you guys have any recommendations on where I should begin to better understand what existing components on the Mazak QT8 I can use and what existing components will need to be replaced because they won't work with LinuxCNC. I have a lot to learn, but I am not intimidated by projects like this. I just need some advice regarding the best place to start and how a map out a project like this. 

Thanks!
Chris

Here's a guy that did a QT8 retrofit.  Could try reaching out to him to see what was involved. I'd try to find out what issues the lathe has and plan from there.  From a very quick look it looks like the servos have resolvers, so you'll have to plan for that with your choice of controlled cards or plan on replacing the servos and drives with something more modern with encoders.  

Thanks! I saw your post and started reading it. There's a lot there.

Were you able to replace the resolvers with encoders? Are they part of the motors?

I ask because I found a video of some guy who did a Nakamura LinuxCNC retrofit and he opened up the Fanuc spindle motor and replaced the Fanuc encoder with one he bought off of Alibaba. He had to machine a custom mount for the encoder.

I don't know if the resolver process is similar or if I have to buy all new servos.