View Full Version : Mk2 / Rav4 'Chop n Plop' (Hypothetical Discussion!)
cdwood2010
25-12-2013, 18:12
Right, so Pat & I have been bouncing this idea around for a while, as have many others. There have been a lot of projects where people have chopped one car and fitted it on top of another cars chassis. I even came up with the tongue in cheek name of "Chop'n'Plop".
We love the Mk2, but there are times when you really want a 4WD car for the shitty weather. Something like a Rav4 i hear you say? Well here's why this idea got started with Pat & I in the first place......Some pictures:-
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2013/12/238.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_MR2
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2013/12/239.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rav4
Now a photoshop (even a very rough one i admit) is one thing, but doing it for real is something else. The Rav4 is more of a conventional floor pan, being a front engined 2 or 4 wheel drive configuration, while the MR2 is of course an RR configuration, with no drive tunnel and some very tall bulkheads.
The idea Pat and i came up with, which will require both vehicles, is to slice the body from the floor pan on the Rav4, and lift it away. The same thing with the MR2 shell, then 'plop' it on top of the Rav4 bottom half. I'm sure they would be miles out, but i think with enough trial fitting (and a fuck load of beer) of the top and bottom halves, it might be doable. Of course you would need ample space and means to lift a shell and lower it again. Safely. Not some mates with ropes.
What you would end up with is the engine and running gear of a Rav4, and the interior of an MR2.
Why?
Why the fuck not.
:)
Chris.
http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2013/12/240.jpg
Paul Woods
26-12-2013, 17:00
It'll need a custom bonnet, no way a Mk2 one will sit above Rav4 engine height, i suspect same story with the front struts.
It will also be really tall, and silly looking..... go for it.
cdwood2010
26-12-2013, 17:47
That there is all the incentive i need......
:)
Why don't you take the rav4 and 1 ton of shiplap.... 4x4 shed?
cdwood2010
31-12-2013, 01:14
Hey I like that idea too.
:)
Some inspiration
2659
Alan...
Coletrane
02-01-2014, 20:20
TBH I don't think its the most plausible of ideas, it would be a MASSIVE undertaking and end up looking like the elephant man in the end !
The easiest way to get an AWD mk2 would be to use the box and drivetrain from an audi, adapter plate to mount to whatever engine your running (3s, 3v etc) and flip all the stuff back to front !
Easier than the above but still not an easy task !
cdwood2010
02-01-2014, 20:42
Hi!
Yeah it's one if those things I would love to try, but the wastage / potential for failure would be mahoosive.
I like the Audi idea.
Wasn't your good self making an MR2 / Escort hybrid?
C.
once you have cut most of the meat out of a mr2 shell...it would be pretty light...chain block at each end, with a balance bar round the truss' in your garage(you do have one Chris?? most of your work seems done on the drive:P)
would you cut it at the top of the sill?. or along the floor pan? both have drama attached, but one will cause headache's, the other untold stress and drama, I couldn't tell you which would be worse...:P
or you could just clear fell the rave at sill height, leaving inner guards etc(for suspension mounting...blah blah blah)and gut the 2, and remove inner guards and drop a nearly complete shell on top and laminate the sills(for want of a better term) then bodge to finnish:D
cdwood2010
02-01-2014, 21:50
Oh I like where this is going......
Indeed, what Sketchy suggested would keep the integral strength of the floor pan and suspension mounts then the body shell would brace it all together.
Anything else would just be a great big PITA to overcome and you wouldn't get anywhere near enough the strength that this method would give you as the sideways stress would be too much to overcome.
A bit like this....
2662
Coletrane
02-01-2014, 22:42
Hi!
Yeah it's one if those things I would love to try, but the wastage / potential for failure would be mahoosive.
I like the Audi idea.
Wasn't your good self making an MR2 / Escort hybrid?
C.
Nah not me mate, im into the 1uzfe big time mate doing charger conversions, manual swaps etc and generally enjoying the lovely v8 burble :D
cdwood2010
03-01-2014, 00:51
Nah not me mate, im into the 1uzfe big time mate doing charger conversions, manual swaps etc and generally enjoying the lovely v8 burble :D
Ah that's right, i do recall one of your previous posts. Good man.
the 1uzfe is one of the best engines ever made
Perhaps we should be plying you with many beers! ;)
There was a thread on here a while back where someone sliced a Mk2 and dropped a Mk1 Escort shell on it. No idea where it ended up. I referred to it as a 'chop 'n' plop' so I'm claiming to have invented the phrase!
You should get some more posts up of your 1UZ work. We love it!
Chris.
Coletrane
03-01-2014, 11:02
TBH if I still had my old unit (6500 sq ft for 230 a month :D) I would consider doing a mr2 1uzfe with the shortest box I could find to squeeze between the frame rails, and stick my m112 charger conversion on top for 400 bhp :D
But nowhere to work and im bloody skint means "computer says no"
cdwood2010
03-01-2014, 11:23
I feel you brother.
I know everyone is saying it wont fit, and i believe them. The trouble is that this is TwoBrutal. Not the 'Oh never mind then' club.
I'm sure with a Starlet gearbox you could make it fit. It may last about an hour, but what a fucking hour that would be!
:)
The ruminations continue....
c.
Coletrane
03-01-2014, 11:28
its just a case of finding a short box, tbh some mods to the rails might be needed but if you can get a short enough box then it would be some minor notching rather than major surgery !
Tommytank
04-01-2014, 09:07
I think you plopped back to front. Surely the rav4 on a tubby floor pan, tinted rear windows to hide the engine, tune to 350 horses?
cdwood2010
04-01-2014, 11:17
I think you plopped back to front. Surely the rav4 on a tubby floor pan, tinted rear windows to hide the engine, tune to 350 horses?
Oh hello. Didn't think of that.
:)
Just daydreaming here... But a celica gt-four has about the same wheelbase (iirc).
Isn't it possible to take that, maybe turn around the 4wd system so that you keep the Mid-engined layout?
Like I said I'm just daydreaming, I'm not all that technical :smiliesign:
cdwood2010
04-01-2014, 16:22
I like it!
And I'm not that technical on this kinda stuff. But from crazy ideas come fabulous things!
:)
c.
you couldn't reverse a gt4 without even more heartache than the chop and plop plan...not saying it cant be done..
better off just modding the trans of the 2 anyway...just sayin
Been reading a bit into the 4wd and AWD systems, Seems like the you need a "differential" (AWD) or a "Transfer box" (4WD).
If you want to put this inside an MR2 you'll need a gearbox which works with the Mid-engined layout, space to fit either a diff or transfer box and somewhere to fit a (couple of) axle(s) to power the front wheels.
If you move the gastank to the front that might resolve a bit of the space problem (and probably creates a few of its own).
On a side note, I actually found out that Toyota also made a Celica with four wheel steering, couldn't help to think that that's even more awesome! (A four wheel drive - all wheel steering - MR2 :nuts:)
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