Motorcycle Repair: Wiring, xl 125 honda, honda three wheeler

Question
I believe my engine is around a 1977 XL 125 Honda, it has points and has an altenator with four wires 3 white and one green which hooks up to the ground of the engine. The coil and the condenser are hooked together as one. If it helps in identifing the engine it has a closed in camshaft instead of being able to take it apart and it has five gears. I am kinda lost on your last advice when you said if it had points do this. What are the three white wires coming out of the engine for? Am I suppose to use all 3 if I dont want lights or anything else hooked up? If it is not too much trouble can you explain in full on how to just wire the engine together? I have no knowledge in this area. Also the coil is just a 6v with one wire coming off of it (a black one). Thank you!

P.S. What is the difference in coils why do you have to have certain types for certain bikes? I was just wondering.
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Hey Bill, I was wondering if there is an easy way to wire an engine. I have a XL125 Honda engine and I am going to put it on a 200X Honda three wheeler. I was wondering if you knew a way to just connect the engine to make it run. I dont plan on putting any turnoff switches or lights of anything like that on it now but maybe later. Do you believe you can give me advice on how to go about doing this I would greatly appreciate it. I just want to connect it to get firing. Thanks Agian!
-----Answer-----
Stephen, it depends on what year the XL125 motor is from. Some had ignition points and condenser, where you just put a switch to power up the coil with 6v and off you go, once the points are set correctly.

The early ones are battery powered, so you have to put a battery in there somewhere. Later motors may have a CDI ignition, but then you need the CDI module and associated wiring harness to connect it all together again. Some have 5 speeds and some are 6 speed motors. They were made for 11 years, so lots of changes and variations to them.

Dunno if your 200X has/had a charging system or lights, but it may be 12v system.

If it has points then...

GROUND (-)6v battery (+) to a SWITCH to Black(white) coil wire + side of coil.
Green(?) coil wire (-) of coil, goes to the points that have to be clean, gapped to .014" then move the backing plate to where the points just OPEN at the F mark alignment on the flywheel/stator.

Bill Silver

Answer
Go here:
http://oldmanhonda.com/MC/WiringDiagrams/MCwiring.php#class
select XL100 or SL125 for factory wiring information. They switched from the yellow/pink/white to all white leads, later on. These three wires are coming from the stator windings and are part of the charging system. If you want a charging system to charge a battery, then you will need to wire the stator to the rectifier, as shown. The rectifier will charge the battery. If your 200X is not a 6v sytem you will have a lot of problems getting it all to work.

6v coils and CDI coils have different resistance values and will not interchange.

My "if it has points" statement is a flow chart showing how a points type engine is wired to run. It is not a self generating ignition system, like the later models. It requires a 6v battery to operate the ignition system. The wires from the engine stator are not necessary for the engine to just run on its own. All you need is a 6v battery, a switch, wire to the coil hot side and the green negative side of the coil goes to the points which are basically just a timed switch for the coil energizing and discharge, which creates a spark.

http://oldmanhonda.com/MC/Rtiming.html for more theory.

Bill Silver