I have a old giant vac leaf blower the 8hp briggs had seen better days. I was going to buy the 6.5 predator engine from harbor freight but after I looked at it at the store I realized it was not going to work well so I sprung for the 8hp predator engine. The install is not really straight forward. Once the engine was sitting in the frame it was obvious that the blower housing would need a little massaging where the exhaust comes out of the head. I marked the area and got out the torch. I heated the area red hot and went at it with a ball pein hammer . It was trial and error engine in and out until it sat on the mounting plate all the way. I had to trim the exhaust sheild and drill 4 new engine mounting holes , the engine just sits on the on the mounting plate. So I put the blower fan in then bolted the engine to the plate. I put the split bush in the blower fan and rotated it. After a couple of adjustments I got it in the right spot , so I put the front cover on I found that the bolts were to long they were interfering with the fan so I cut them down so they were flush with the inside. Filled the engine with oil and gas in the tank and it started right up! I let it run at half throttle for 30 minutes then changed the oil. Let it run for 30 more mins changed the oil again. So it took it out and blew leaves for 2 hours at just under 3/4 throttle and it worked great! Pics tomorrow.
