One of the local guys (eastern Mass) who sells mostly snowblower parts has posted a nice machine for $250 on CL. It's a Toro 521with a Lifan 6.5hp OHV Honda clone engine.
I've always wanted to do just this combination as the 521 is a classic small machine. They are very well built, easy to use and last forever. The base was outfitted with a 5 and 7 hp's so mounting a 6.5 clone is no problem. The 5hp has a 21 inch bucket and the 7hp version came with a 24. Both models had small changes so there are several part number versions of each that had runs of 4 to 12 years in the 80's and 90's. This one is early to mid 90's given the tires if they are original. The tread is not so good although ok for a flat area. They often came with super knobs that were 3-4 rows of points which dug in very well.
This thing would be perfect for someone wanting a small footprint machine. With a 6.5hp it will be a tiger at throughput and distance. The original 5hp was a Tecumseh L-head and very good at clearing.
If an owner took reasonable care of his machine all the original parts would still be in good condition in 2012. The early Toro paint was excellent, tough to chip and protected thick metal on the bucket and base.
The mount was probably pretty easy, if not going onto original holes then 4 drilled holes. The head sticks out so he pushed out the chute crank support but that's about it for mods. The original 5hp crank was a straight shaft 3/4 inch and so is the clone's.
A nice setup and easily good for 10 years.
More photos at:
http://s947.photobucket.com/albums/ad314/doublee20052005/Toro%20521/?action=view¤t=20110807_0197.jpg
The Lifan 6.5hp OHV is a good match of the Honda GX200 with parts interchangable. The crank is on roller bearings, cast sleeve and has low oil shutoff. HF does not sell these with electric start but they start like a Honda and have the same low compression release.
The tank and covers metal is not the quality of the Honda but passable. The governor and throttle springs and linkages are not the best either. The throttle lever just sticks out a bit from under the air cleaner cover and is very thin metal. The throttle linkage has a bracket with holes so easy to setup with a remote throttle control. The gas cap hole has an insert screen that's easy to knock out of position when putting on the cheap quality gas cap. It's too bad as makes you wonder about the quality of the rest of the engine which is actually pretty good. I've used several of these engines on re-powers and so far zero problems. At $99 it's still a great engine.
This message was modified Mar 1, 2012 by trouts2
