I would definitely go with the 301cc 8hp with the 1 inch shaft since it matches the exact foot print of your old engine. You may notice a bit of a performance hit if you only use the 212cc. Although with only a 22 inch bucket I doubt you will notice any perfomance hit with only a 212cc and I have a 212cc on a 26 inch Gilson made Montgomery ward blower and it works fine.

 

hello brent, welcome to sbf!! first find out what size motor is on the machine and what size the shaft actually is. every compact I've seen has a 208 cc motor which is only about 6.5hp

 

:welcome:

I'm with @detdrbuzzard as far as knowing more specifically about the original engine.

 

Are sure adult the HP? LCT doesn’t list the HP on the engines but DO list the torque and the 136cc has a 9’5 on the engine so not sure what one has 8.5 but I’ll bet he’s got the 136cc, there should be a tag on the side with cc on it

 

I've got a LCT 291cc SnowForce and it says right on the box 10HP. I got it through Sten and it's their box so whether that's a Sten thing or LCT I don't know.

Just FYI

 

I fired up my Predator 212cc repowered MTD 22 inch blower tonight which I repowered 5 years ago and the engine which has been sitting since last summer fired in 3 pulls of the recoil. I needed to blow some snow which was left over in my driveway and it ran great. I used to have to putz for 1/2 hour or more with the old Tecumseh which was on it and I love that I can start my machine up and go out and blow snow and put it away all before I finally could get the Tecumseh running good enough to even attempt blowing.

 

most def it needed a carb clean/fuel issue or something mechanically wrong w/motor. its not because it was a tecumseh per say.
i bought a 30+ yr old craftsman 28/10 as a dead/non starting sb and all i did for motor was give it a good and thorough carb clean w/carb cleaner.
vid is my tecumseh 10hp started in one pull being stored outside and ready to use after a couple of minutes, if even that long..

 

Looks like the OP was a one post wonder, Would have been nice to know how it worked out for him.