I just got done reading through this fun thread. It sounds like you're learning from your mistakes and not scared to post about it. That's the stuff the kind of stuff that helps everybody! Keep it coming. I'm sure it's going to be a fun car.
The part where you talk about the car being so much fun back in the day then regrettably taken down for too many upgrades hit me straight in the heart. I ruined a 245 that way a few years ago. Despite being a huge rust bucket from the day I bought it, it was very good to me. It took me and my friends everywhere and handled pretty well. Then my young and dumb self just couldn't be happy with that, so tried to LS swap it.
Part of me wishes I Frankensteined it back together, but I know it never would have been the same. Good luck!