Sourcing components on a budget for sprucing up my MTB

[a_nic_an]

Hi all;
Firstly thanks so much for any help that you might be able to give, it's amazing that so many people are willing to give their time on here to share their experiences and expertise.

I have an old Felt Q220 (see picture), it is clunky and heavy but I get pleasure from rolling slowly around on it. It is never going to be used for anything more strenuous that pottering along a tow path.

I have recently seen this picture (green and brown bike) of a basic Diamond Back MTB after a few alterations and think it looks great, I would love to do something similar to the Felt.
From what I can guess I would need a laid back seat post, forks without suspension, north road handlebars and a handlebar stem that would hold them out further towards the front of the bike.
After that I could get all the accessories I want such as a leather seat, maybe some new pedals, mudguards, dynamo lights etc.

I want to do all this for as cheap as possible (< £100) so thought I would try to get the bits as and when I can from old unwanted bikes, scrap stores or ebay. I am very inexperienced in bike maintenance so don't know what to look for or where.
Do you think that this plan is a possibility?
How would you go about finding the bits I need at a cheap cost? I've looked on ebay but most of the components seem to be new, they are not ridiculously expensive but would add up to more than my budget.
Is there anything else I am missing in my shopping list?

Alternatively am I being a fool, wasting my time to make something horrible? Is there a better option for getting a nice looking bike for pottering around town on?

Thanks so much for any help.
Nic

 

[I like Skol]

The bike you have looks pretty sweet for bobbing around town on IMO. If you want to make it a bit easier then fit some 2.1 slick tyres (Continental and Schwalbe do something in the fat sizes). I ran some Continental 2.1 slicks and can confirm these run great at 60psi with low rolling resistance but still have the beef for hammering down flights of steps etc.....

 

[a_nic_an]

Thanks; I have the sch wale big apple tyres on there at present and agree that they make a great difference. For some reason though I have a hankering to make something unique looking, a bit like the desire for a classic car I suppose.
Where would you go to get used components?

 

[Psycolist]

FLEA bAY There is a world of used and new bike parts to delve into. I spend alot of time looking for the unusual and-or-cheap. You have to bide your time, but there is usually a bargain to be had somewhere, and if it dosnt suit your purpose, re list it and hopefully, get your money back.