A friend gave me his 20 yr old homemade LT that he bought from a man. I put a new 18hp vanguard on it. The LT bolts to engine with 4 bolts only and there is not any support frame that ties the LT to the bottom plate. The only thing holding the LT to the engine is the 4 bolts. ( 2 on top of shaft and 2 on bottom). My friend says that's how they bought it and it ran fine for 10 yrs in Hackberry, LA. I noticed the new ones have support frames. I also noticed some don't. What do yall think?

post up some pictures so we can see what youre dealing with

Depending on what the pictures look like, it may not be that bad. The Tai rigs mount around the shaft and the transom mount is connected to the bottom of the engine.