Thanks Neil, the lessons more important than the progress to me I do try to include at least most... erm... some of the mistakes made lol, forgive me if I don't include them all as it'd triple the length of the build thread at a minimum
It has again "been awhile" since I last posted an update - this time however I've gotten a bunch of stuff done, thing is it's all insanely boring, repetitive & tedious crap that just needed to be attended to, very little of it being picture or note worthy... namely wiring, wiring, wiring & more wiring w/summore wiring on the side >.<
One of the little things I'm disproportionately proud of is in actuality quite simple, I dunno why it pleases me so much heh, but whatever - I modified the ebike controller with a remote activation, it's power switch still active the taddy's main relay bank now supersedes it, the key switch overriding so "off" is off no matter if the controller is switched on or not, turning the taddy's keyed main now activates/deactivates absolutely everything electrical on the thing, handy for both repairs & security, tho naturally it could still be pedaled.
Last of the connections for the ebike & lighting sorted, it was time to move on to the Lifan four stroke & it's wiring and plumbing needs, I grabbed some alcohol resistant fuel line (a disgusting yellow, but whadda gonna do lol) and a pair of fuel filters (lil one is a disposable for initial fill/flush) & after just a bit of fumbling got that easy bit sorted...
...& now comes the tough bit - there's five main wires comin' outa the engine, they ofc go to the CDI, coil & regulator but the tricky bit is even after more than a year of searching the interwebs, talking to repair shop techs and distributors, even the vendor that sold me the thing -
no one could provide more than their "best guess" as to which wire did what, the colors meaningless & nonexistent in any available schematic or manual.
blarg
I hate guessing electricals as you'll very often not be allowed a second try, tendrils of smoke & spiky hair your reward for a mistake lol - fortunately the gas engine itself is a comparatively simple setup, not like it's a emissions regulated EFI or anythin' heh, so after some grumbling I carried on doing things backwards, wiring all the accessories & whatnot first, winnowing my way down to just the stuff I couldn't identify, then using the classic process of elimination to figure out the rest...
Somewhat surprisingly it worked, I only made one mistake and that was one the zot gods decided to forgive, oddly one that had little to do with the mystery wires and was just an error (wired the kill as a double kill instead of off/on);
...and as of Friday 3:30am EST -
IT'S ALIVE, IT'S ALIVE!!1!
Having checked for & gotten spark, I drizzled a bit of purloined two-stroke fuel (buddy's ped) into the cylinder & sure enough it fired right up w/a very satisfying four stroke rumble, resulting in a maniacal cackle from me & promptly doing it again lol, it speaks volumes for my upstairs neighbors that they came down to congratulate me on this milestone instead of (rightfully) complaining about the racket at almost 4am heh
Triumph indeed, nevertheless there's still a bunch to be done, lots and lots of little things, tidying up and adjustments, then some more readjustments. I got a good start on pulling together the harnesses, shortening excess wires, organizing the mayhem & rerouting things to prevent chafe, pinches, tugs & shorts, then adding conduit wrap to keep it all that way... but I've still heat guards & some mounts to make, there's still a bunch to be done but...
...without a shred of doubt I'll be riding this thing no later than this spring, sooner if the roads are dry and clean before then FTW;
