well, I am all for doing something to save myself $

however i usually weigh in cost, time, effort. In my mind that's money. If i was considering such an undertaking my first thought would be how much i could sell my current macbook pro for ( they hold their value more so then most computers)..... and then how much it would cost to put that money toward going to the store and buying the model i wanted.... ( upgrading the memory, hard drive if needed ).....

I know my answer does not exactly fit the ifixit's mission of fixing/repairing, however the question isn't either one..... My answer is also not a response to the actual question.

To answer the question, i doubt what your proposing would be plausible, givin how easy this type of upgrade has been in the past...... i won't say impossible since I haven't actually checked and i will leave that to someone who has tried it or looked into it..... with the cost of buying an entire top case of a 2011 model i just haven't thought of it.