I have an 8-speed Hyperglide body attached to an older (tricolor) 600 Ultegra hub shell. It works fine.

In my experience it's pretty easy to find older better-quality used hubs and cannibalize it for the cassette body. They are generally interchangeable, but I've found that putting a "road" body on a "mountain" hub shell can cause problems with the derailleur being too close to the spokes. The cassette bodies and hub shells are not 100% cross-compatible.