i have an xr3i engine, and a carb'd cvh from a mk3 , th emk3 engine has only 44.000 miles and is very clean , the xr3i engine is puffing smoke and smells oily when running and the owner had a bottle of oil in pass footwell ... burning oil i think, can i put the head off the 3i on the block of the carbd engine, there both 1600

 

You can but when the engine is in the car you've got the EFI wiring remember.

 

yeah transferring all the loom etc into a mk3 estate, give the engine a tickle whilst its out as its tired, using the low miles auto cvh bottom end and a rebuild on the top ed i think and a gasket set , water an oil pump for good measure

 

You would also need to add the provision for for crank pos sensor. But thats not a biggy with the bloke on the bench as it were.

 

The XR3 is most likely MFI, it was only the later ones that were EFI. You should be able to transfer the head. No wiring etc needs to be touched, you may if it's EFI need to drill a hole in the block for the CPS at the most.

In any case how do you know that the top end isn't at fault? Valve stem seals are a weak point on the CVH thus cause oil to be burnt, that is the usual suspect!

Martin

 

havent run it long enought o decide yet, always thought that if the smoke clears its the top end, if it stays its the rings but could be wrong , ???

 

Not necessarily.