Well you first have to decide on a few important issues. First one is what type of fuel do you wanna pump in the bitch. Next would be wether or not you want to build for longevity and durability or balls to the wall. Then how much bread you wanna throw at it. Finally, how fast you wanna go, how much horsepower you wanna make, and do you wanna run juice. Yeah, you answer all those questions and you`ll know exactly what you need to buy/do.
Keep in mind that after you answer these questions the 10 million different ways of doing it will be thrown at you. No way in particular is going to be better, just an opinionated way of doing it. Welcome to the world of hot rodding.
Buy a comfortable chair for your work bench. Might I suggest Tractor Pull for a good read?