8 speed? I think vintage 5, 6, 7 or modern 9 makes more sense.
Agree with KIMMO, I've also done the cannibalizing trick successfully; find a donor bike @ BD, eBay or CL, strip it for the components and re-sell the frameset. Obviously, you need to know all your specs cold, and remember size will often dictate cable length, crank length, chain length...you get the idea. If I didn't know how to do the donor bike thing, I might approach a LBS about making me a package deal for gruppo/wheels, see what they could put together for my budget. I suspect they have lots of parts in inventory they'd like to move. I think my local LBS would do back flips trying to unload stuff in the back room.