I'm happy you're happy. Thanks to Home Garage, the yard blower lives again. Great job, buddy. ^_^

Great fix and I am surprised how well that thing blew the leaves. I always try to follow manufacturers directions with break in as well as designated oil changes. I usually change oil more frequently than recommended. Keep the video's coming.

I always break mine in. Those HF engines are great for projects like this. Nice job.

I got a new chainsaw last year . From a local tool store here in the uk . £90 . I ran it in as recommended in the book that came with it . Well worth it . It was purchased for occasional use . It's had a fair bit of work since getting it. I always run the fuel dry to . Same as my other powered garden tools Hedge trimmer got that a year ago for peanuts . Just needed new fuel lines and primer bulb . Strimmer too . Fuel it up couple of pulls it starts . 4 stroke mower I inherited when I moved in . Even though I serviced it . Always issues starting . This year got proper spark plug NGK. Starts first time every time now . Thanks for the videos I'm learning so much.

I buy a lot of items from both Harbor Freight and Northern Tool. However, I make it a point to avoid their Chonda engines due to the high failure rate. Even the cashier @ HF advised me to do so. The price is attractive and they run good for a while, but will randomly crap out. It that engine was a parachute, I certainly would not wear it jumping out of an airplane! LOL I chose the Briggs Vanguard to repower my old Little Wonder 8hp blower. Yes, it was twice the cost of the Predator, but the Vanguard bolted right on. No drilling new holes, no sleeving, no muffler modifications, no guessing games. Even the throttle cable fit where it was supposed to. The ease of installation and peace of mind for long-term reliability justified the $400.00 I spent. Nice job installing and I wish you luck with yours. It does sound badass with the pipe!

I always try and warm my stuff up whether new or old and 99% are old and well broken in or broken down. The splitter has the 13 horse Predator and am WELL pleased with it. Son-in-law came for it last week. It had geen sitting a full uyear since it had been run last and started oon 1st pull. Super engines. And the splitter anbd 261 saw are the only new stuff I ever bought except for power tools. Those blowers sure do the job. The old one had an 8 horse Briggs flathead and wore me out on a regular basis. BLESSINGS 2 U!

I hope you will keep us updated on your overall opinion/evaluation of the predator engine. They certainly are less expensive than all others. Thank you

I just fitted new rings into my Briggs & Stratton 3 hp powered Supa swift lawn mower over Christmas time which stopped it from burning oil,it only needs about 3 pulls to start it instead of 6. It runs the old suction type of choke O matic carburettor so relies on engine compression to draw fuel in from the fuel tank, not a primer bulb or gravity feed so it needs a few pulls to start it. Briggs & Stratton recommend running it for 5 hours to break the rings in but most of the grass is dead due to drought, I tried in on a green patch of lawn & it went well. We've had some rain so some of the lawn has sprung back to life so I might do some mowing today,as far as the break in procedure goes,I will change the oil after 5 hours of use. Edit 25.1.20 - it started first pull this afternoon,I mowed with it for 1 hour & the spark plug electrodes now run grey instead of being oily,it doesn't use any oil now whereas it used to burn 1/3rd (200 mLs) of its oil capacity up in that time !

Hey I just did this change over myself. But I kept the stock exhaust on. Worked out great. I did have to use a few washers to get the clearance I needed & weld on a pease of plate to extend the engine mounting holes to fit. Well worth it to me that the whole engine is stock & with the engine a little farther back it’s easier to raise the front to turn.

I see immediately why the first engine broke, there's no rubber bushings installed between the engine and the mount to reduce vibration. Too much vibration can cause this to come apart. Happend to me when I recovered one of these a few years back

I just did the same replacement because my 8HP Briggs snapped the 1" shaft. 1) The blower propeller was out of balance, this probably caused the shaft failure. I balanced it before putting back on. 2) The Predator 301 engine had the exact same shaft height. 3) Rather than fabricate a new exhaust, I simply cut the back of the fan casing where the exhaust pipe was touching. It only needed about a 1" by 2" hole. If I could do it over, I would have simply peened it since it only needed an indent of about a half an inch. 4) The muffler shield also touched the housing and needed a small corner area removed. That's it. Good video and Thanks. My only recommendation would be to check if the propeller is in balance, otherwise the new one will eventually fail too.

Wow..... amazing power that motor has.... perfect

Hi: Nice fix. I usually run the engines for about 30 minutes to ` hr. at half speed and then change the oil. I have never had an issue in my shop doing this. Also you might want to think about sending the crank in the other engine to a machine shop and having it center tapped, threaded and then welded with a new end of the shaft. Or maybe just install a new crank??? Thanks for your video's.

Its always best to follow the manufacturers instructions for break in procedures and usually its in the from of hours and depending on manufacturers there may be minutes and hours maintenance that must be done to keep the engine running , my dad has an old model number 9 briggs and stratton 5 hp engine don't know that exact year but it's run time before an oil change is 25 hours and add oil every 5 hours of run time as needed until it reaches 25 hours and the air filter is steel mesh that you put oil on or in the pull cord is separate and has to be hand wrapped around the pully to pull start it and it has a condenser and points and yes it still starts and runs great

I have always followed the break in procedures for a 2 or 4 stroke engine

I did a harbor freight swap (5.5 Heni head) on a Parker Thatch-o-magic. I needed an engine quick so I bought it. Ran fine first season thatching 15-20 lawns. Winterized and put away. Following year started up ran lousy. Cleaned and adjusted carb, new ngk plug, no difference. Not sinking any more time or money into it. I’ll find an older Briggs, Honda or Kawasaki. It bugged me putting a chi-com engine on a nice USA made piece of equipment anyway. We also had a China clone on northern tool splitter. After 2 seasons it jumped time, ate the valves. I know lots and lots of guys re-power with predators, and even the new toros and ariens use Chinese engines. That’s fine I have lots of equipment and most of its older. If it can be repaired I do otherwise I only run Japanese or American.

I love the little Wonder

I like those half price Honda clones. Great fix.

At 4:05 the engine mounting bolt/nut doesn’t have a washer under the nut to help it secure it to the frame and engine base. Also are you going to mount and bolt the original muffler onto the pipe?

Dang that’s strong

Can the original handle mounted throttle control be hooked up to that engine?.....Seems a bit labor intensive to have to keep reaching down to change throttle settings.

Are you able to hook up the throttle linkage from the handle bar to the one on the engine, or are you going to have to reach down every time?

Great job on this are you going you use the leaves as a compost

Let's start a discussion. How about just directing the exhaust into the blower chamber to mix with and be expelled with the other blast air?

Hi can you explain what you did to modify the height and how you got to center the shaft correctly? I have a 8hp little wonder briggs and want to put the 13 ho 420cc predator on my blower

Great video! I am looking at using the 212cc engine for a leaf vacuum engine replacement. I will also need to make the muffler mod. Doesn't the engine run really loud with only a pipe instead of a muffler? Could you have run the pipe to the muffler to make it quieter? I'm new to all this stuff. Thanks for helping us learn!

Me personally, I would follow a breaking. Put some fresh oil in it and you’d be surprised how dirty that new oil is already.

Great video. Does anyone have any experience with swapping out the 5HP motor on little wonder for Predator 6.5 (212cc)?

I have the same job with the same blower/engine. Could expand how what you did for the exhaust get modify to fit? Thanks.

Hi there. I replaced my 5 hp Briggs & Stratton on my little wonder 5 hp blower with a 6.5 predator but same like you the shaft broke. Welded it together and it broke again soon after. My question is the predator engine that you are using has a 3 1/2 inch output shaft whereas the 6.5 hp that I had, and like the old Briggs, had a 2 1/2 inch shaft. How did you handle that or is your air housing wider? Was your machine an 8hp originally? Thanks much. Jim

I know this is a relatively old video, but I am doing this to my Little Wonder. I have found the same shaft height issue (I'm using the predator 301cc as well), but also see a shaft length issue; the predator is about 3/4" longer than the original Briggs. Did you account for this as well or was it not an issue going from Powerhorse to Predator?

I follow manufacturer suggestions for brake in the engine

What was the original engine a 1 inch straight shaft? I am looking at buying one of these and the Engine may or may not be bad the listing doesn’t say just says needs love but I have a sneaky feeling it’s a step shaft

I run my brakes period from 15 minutes at idel to half for 20 then full for 15 then I change the oil and add a little of misteryoil to the oil and gas it help out with up lub to the piston and last for many years my last on last 25 years on a gocart

I used to break my engines in but my dealer tells me now a days just run them wide open from the start and do first oil change at 5 hours.

Nice job. Two questions: 1)Does lowering the blower housing affect the ground clearance of the machine? and 2) Was the output shaft the same length? Looking to do the same, but dont want to run into these issues.

Do these have a clutch? When I pull the rope the turbine also spins.

I’m in the middle of the same project with the same blower and engine. Can you tell me what 3/4” spacer that you used to handle the differences in shaft lengths and how you mounted it. Also did you use longer bolts to mount the engine to the blower housing. Thanks so much.

Harbor Freight has certainly missed the boat by not coming out with an afford and extension line of vertical shaft, electric start 10-25 HP engines a long time ago to repower riding mowers.

what would happen if you replaced the engine with a Boing 747 engine?

What could go wrong if you run the engine with no exhaust what's wrong without having an exhaust

Where did you find the exhaust pipe?

i change oil after 5 hours then every 20 hours or so afterwards. Conventional before 20 hours synthetic afterwards.

I build a Minn bike with a Predator 212 engine. Make sure you break it in. I don't trust those Motors until you're broken in.

I'm moderately surprised harbor freight doesn't have a sub 50cc engine.

Swapping an engine is a bit like swapping a carburetor, you have to make sure every part is the same or else it won’t work

How loud was it with the new muffler?

You do realize that there is a break in period on this as well as all new engines. Supposed to run it at least two hours under no load!

for me a new 2 stroke i put a cap of 2 stroke oil in the tank on top of normal mix for 2 to 3 tanks and not over half throttle under no load 4 stroke ill run it at the lowest throttle I can to do the job for 2 to 3 tanks then change the oil and run it normal

I let the engine break in properly, letting the engine parts expand and let it Idle for a while before I turn it off. It’s not good for the engine when you put heavy load on it straight away when you use it.

Are you a commercial lawn worker or do you just work on people's equipment how do you get all your equipment?

wierd shut down procedure....i just flip the switch , unless your running it out of gas ...

Old Snap on 18v impact?

Is this the most powerful blower?

To bad a honda engine is so expensive that would be a great idea for the blower oh well you did what you had to see you later young man

Little Wonder walk behind blowers are not very popular. They are expensive, heavy, hard to maneuver, and it gets old walking back and forth pushing and dragging it. A backpack blower ie the only way to go.

I'll buy that broken engine from you

That's a lot of modifications. Rather buy the orinigal engine. But good job.

Even though you were calmly narrating this I know damn well you were fustrated