Motorcycle Repair: 1983 honda c70 wiring problems, c70, atc70

Question
Hi i have just bought a 1983 honda c70 engine with cdi electrics. I have bought the engine to use on my atc70 trike but as you will know the 1984 trike has points ignition and when i bought the engine i didnt get any ignition parts with it apart from 5 wires coming from the casing where the flywheel is. So i have put the engine onto the trike thinking it would be a runner straight away but the ignition coil i was using on my trike is for points ignition and i cant seem to get a spark from the sparkplug no matter what combination i use and also i have tried 3 new spark plugs. There are currently 5 wires coming form the engine they are black & red, white, yellow, blue & white and light green & red. Is there a possible way of doing something to get a spark. Thankyou

Answer
There's more to it than just hooking up the points to some wires from the engine.

Points ignition works basically by opening and closing a switch in series with the coil. When the switch is closed a magnetic field forms around the primary winding of the coil. When the switch is opened the field collapses, causing a large spike of voltage in the coil's secondary winding.

CDI ignition (like the '83 C70 has) works differently. The coil's primary is fed by a signal from the CDI box, which causes the spike in the secondary. The CDI knows when to trigger the coil because of a signal from a reluctor (AKA Pulser, pulse coil) that is usually mounted where the points would normaly go.

My recommendation, if you want to make this work, is to start by getting shop manuals for the C70 and the ATC70 and comparing the relevant schematics, then spending some time on eBay or at a bike wrecker buying what you need.

As far as I can see, the list is short: You definitely need a CDI box from an '83 C70 and you might need the coil to go with it. I don't know if you can use a points coil with the CDI and I haven't studied the schematics closely to make sure that's all you need.
If you are lucky the coil will work and you won't have damaged it by connecting it directly to the alternator's output while you were experimenting.

I would also recommend spending some time on Google looking for a good online usergroup (discussion forum) that specializes in these machines. Someone there should know if you can use a points coil with the CDI.
Forums are usually free to join and there are usually people there who have the specalized knowledge to keep the machines they own running.