I have a question, are there any chassis differences betwen the fwd and the 4x4 versions of a mk1 octy?

Would i be able to take the engine/transmision and rear axle from a 4x4 and mount it on a FWD octy without having to modify it?

Nope, I very much doubt it! Without having a clue how different they are the first thought have is where would the prop go!?

The body is different. Only from the front of the rear seats back though. The exhaust tunnel is big enough for the prop, the exhaust runs differently. But the rear floor pan is completely different to take the independant rear suspension and diff assembley.

So there isn't really a way of doing it without having a cut and shut then, is there?

You need to replace the rear floor pan. All the parts can be bought from Skoda to do it. A rough estimate would be about £10k to buy all the parts new and remove and replace the rear floor pan.

Bargain!

So if you had a front ended 4X4 you could in theory snaffle everything off of it and do the business that way? Would, say a vRS ECU be okay running the 4X4 set upo, don't the Hladex diffs have an ECU on them that will need controlling. I'm guessing the easiest way to do this would be to buy a 4X4 and then pop all the good bits from a vRS onto it? I wish I'd researched a bit more and not been so blinkered when I bought mine, I probably would've liked a 4X4 in hindsight...

Yeah far far easier to buy a 4x4 and add the vRS bits to the exterior and interior should you wish. Not much difference in the engines anyhow. All run K03S turbos anyhow.

yep.... the idea of getting a 4x4 is begining to sound more and more cost effective... jejeje, will start to scrap for octy parts.