just another idea i just had: could i mount the components on the bottom of a wood table, and have extender cables on all the ports come through a hole or something? or maybe a shelf. that'd be realyl cool...

I like the sound of that! You could fit it all into one of ikea's floating shelves! or make a similar custom one!
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/20103752

Well i have this book case built into my wall right next to my desk, I was thinking about drilling some holes in the bottom of a shelf to match the mounting screws of the mobo, and then just attach it there. get some extension cables for all the ports on it and make some holes through the side of the book case to thread them through. I think it could work, but I'm really not sure.

Plus im still living with my parents, and i'm not sure they'd go for me drilling a lot of holes through a shelf just for mounting a computer i don't use....dammit....

i think i'll start with a cardboard box mod, since i haven't done any serious case modding ever before, and i'd like to start small. can anyone tell me the rough size of an imac mobo?

I'm sorry, but why would you take a nice-looking, well-designed snow iMac and put it in a cardboard box?  If you were going to do something truly cool with it, then I might feel alright that you were ripping apart a nice iMac (the snow iMac was the last one before the G4).  If you really have your heart set on modding it, then I think you should spend a while thinking up something cool while keeping it on the manageable side (external mod?).  I have ripped apart good working iMacs before and ended up never getting them working again for one reason or another.  That was in my 'early days' of modding.  Since then I have learned better and thought out my projects thoroughly, coming up with what I think are interesting mods.  If it were one of the early iMacs (1998- early 1999), I could care less, but the fact that it's a decent machine kills me.  You might want to look for a Power Mac G3 Blue & White.  They are more upgradable and much easier to mod.  Of course you can do what you want, but it would be great to see a cool final product (yes, I am totally dissing the cardboard box mod here) :P.  Just trying to make your first big mod a good one...let me know if you need any help.  If you decide to stick with modding the iMac, I can try and come up with some good ideas for you if you need 'em.  If you go with a B&W G3 (which I think would be more enjoyable to mod) there are endless possibilities. Hope I don't come off as an ass..

The cardboard idea is fine but I wouldn't just toss it into a box. I would make it look like a case. I found this and thought I would share it.

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2005/10/cardboard_pc_ca.html

mxlews is right since the CRT still works. When it dies you would have some killer ideas ready though.

Well maybe i'll do the internal upgrades and use it as a media server until the crt starts to die, then i'll change the case a lot.

what's a reasonable price for a power mac g3?

Don't count on the CRT dying any time soon, it could easily hang on for a while.  You never know.

I wouldn't pay more than $50 for a B&W.

If the B&W has all of it's parts I would say 50 aswell. If it's missing 1 or 2 things like memory or a video card I would say 25.

Hmm. Well it'd be cool to get a b&w to mod and stuff...i don't know really. maybe i'll upgrade the imac and use it as a backup server, and then maybe get a b&w to do something cool.