well, i could find lots of old 386/486 computers to take from the local highschool... they also have some working 14" monitors i can take... that way i'll only have to pay 200$ for the mobo!
BTW
do you think i could put it all (including floopy and HDD) in a shoe box? those old cases i can get for free are to big and to heavy... i want to make it as portable as possible!