Well I look at it this way.. a vehicle frame isn't some complicated rocket science. If you know how to work a welder, have access to the steel stock, and can read a tape measure, you can probably put your own frame together without much trouble.. provided you have a healthy supply of common sense.
I like the idea of the donor frame mostly because they lots of times come with a whole lot of extra usable stuff.. brakes, engine, tranny, rear axle, rotors & drums, steering column, etc. pretty much the whole shootin' match.. and that way, if you end up needing parts in the future.. say new brake pads, etc.. you can just go down and ask for brake pads for an '88 s10 or whatever.
It's also not difficult to bag the whole donor vehicle for under a grand or less, then sell off the good parts you don't need to make some of your money back.
The trick is to find a donor vehicle that needs the least amount of modification to suit your purpose.
