The previous owner of my polo ran the engine dry and the engines completely welded, I have been looking for a replacement engine and the closest one to me is a guy saying that he has a 1.3L Gt engine which should run on carbs. My car is a polo mk2 ranger which already has a 1.3 in it, i was wondering if the GT would be a straightforward swap, or would I need to change things?

assume you mean a 3f gt ?  if so it wont have provision for the fuel pump drive , you would need to use an elec fuel pump or swap on a mk2 head /cam 

 

otherwise a gt engine is much the same , you inlet manifold would fit 

So I've just brought my first polo, it's a mk2 ranger, but the engine is completely fucked and I have been looking at swapping the engine out. A guy approached me with a 1.3L Gt and says that it will run on a carb. I have very little technical knowledge, can anybody help me out?