Hi David, and welcome to this awesome site. I'm mostly a lurker here but I'm going to offer three bits of advice that are good for everyone, and ones that I wish I'd done when I first started. (most of you have probably already done these things but I'm going to say them anyway)
1) Please add your location to your profile. Members are more likely to respond, offer advice, help, etc if they know where you are. Also, they will stop asking repeatedly where you are. Ditto the above for adding your name to your signature.
2) You may have already done so but start getting organized NOW. Make a bookmarks folder with subfolders like Plans, Suppliers, Parts, Useful videos (like on welding, fabrication, suspension geometry, alignment, painting), etc. Be sure to title them with keywords that will allow you to find them later, and add notes if your browser allows it. I can't count how many times I've recalled seeing something in a video or on a webpage that I wanted to see again but it was either difficult or impossible to find it.
A hardcopy folder or 3-ring binder is also a fine idea. And lists, make lots of lists. A list of the steps your project will go thru (buy donor, disassemble, position drivetrain and suspension, plan frame, acquire tubing/parts, build frame), a list of the hundreds of things, both major and minor, that you will need for your project (you won't believe how many little things you just won't think of in the beginning, and they add up in a hurry), lists of ideas and parts that you think might work, as well as the ones that won't work, and why (this trans/diff/steering rack won't fit because xyz). You mentioned electrical in your OP and nothing helps me do wiring more than staying organized and remembering to take it one step at a time.
3) And since many people (myself included) often forget to do this, BACK UP EVERYTHING THAT'S IMPORTANT, SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN YOUR PRIMARY COMPUTER! i.e. back up any plans/pics/links/contacts/notes to the cloud/another computer/an external drive/optical disks/thumbdrive if losing them would make you cry into your beer. You just never know what can happen: your hard drive can crash, someone could steal your computer, a ransomware virus could encrypt it, a house fire could destroy it. And back things up on a regular schedule, because otherwise you might forget to do so for, I dunno, a year or two, and you'd lose all that effort. Don't ask me how I know. (
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As far as the questions you had my response would be as follows:
1) Yes, it sounds very realistic for someone with your skill set to build a locost.
2) Moving a tube or a joint an inch or two is usually fine. Moving it a foot or two might not be. When you run into something that causes you concern just ask here with pics and there are many members who would happily offer an opinion. As far as frame design and strength go, try to avoid cantilevers and pin joints whenever possible, and triangulation is almost always a good idea. Nature loves triangles.
Strong like bull. [/Russian accent
3) You *might* be able to do it for $5000 total, but IMHO you should probably double that. I think the total real world budget is probably the biggest reason that a lot of projects don't get finished. The thousand and one little things it takes to complete a project really add up, and many people just run out of money or time or enthusiasm.
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