MOPED ARMY

YES to cleaning up that mess like Pat says.

The white wire I traced in yellow needs to be tucked in safe and where it joins the points lug screw it cannot touch or ground on any other part.

Get rid of the oversized crimp connectors at the condenser. Just use bare wire at first till you find your spark. Build a nice clean wire going to the points lug (traced in orange).

Get rid of that huge kill wire for now (green arrow) you can add that later.

Most of all (red arrows) no bare wires can touch the outer casing of the condenser.

Then set your timing using the poor mans method from the Wiki.

Report back.

Timing

If all that fails try unscewing the whole spark plug boot and strip bac a tiny bit till you have clean wire and hold that close to the stator to simulate a spark plug.

i figured out how to tuck the white wire away more...

i'll give your other suggestions a run tomorrow.

ive been borrowing one. those wires look decent?

still failing to get a spark.

i put it all back on the bike and added the kill wire which i have grounded (maybe thats wrong??)

time to strip back the boot.

eliminated the kill wire. still no spark.

did the timing again and again and again. no spark.

not sure what exactly youre recommending here... im not seeing how the boot unscrews. wondering if its worth cutting to get bare wire cus this part could be faulty? any other recommendations?

That original red 5mm plug cable screws into little barbed spikes that are in the ends of both that coil and the original boot. If they get corroded or burned they can be trouble.

You can unscrew the wire ans snip off a 1/4 inch to get fresh wire.

Also since you have your friends meter do this:

Remove just the white wire frome the points lug but leave the black condenser wire in place. Put a slip of paper between the points contact. Now use the meter to test for continuity between the points lug and the stator plate. You should have NO continuity. If you have any reading at all it means that your condenser or your points are internally grounded and wont work.

If you dont know how to set your meter to test for continuity just ask. (edited)

Have you tested the condenser to insure its good ?

Just because it's 'new' doesn't guarantee it's as it should be .

Maybe try your old one ...

Test both of them or keep on guessing .

Seems better to know what's what .

Test each component with a ohm meter. Exciter coils are mostly 1-2ohm, spark coils are 1-2hm across the primary and 3500-4500k testing the secondary to common terminal. Check points with no wires attached for go-no go continuity by opening closing contacts. Check the condenser if it will charge and unload with a ohm meter. (or if CDI check trigger coil 1-2ohm). Antiparasite cap should be 5ohm and dont use one if you are using a resistor spark plug.

USA wiring schemes have the core end of the windings on the ignition coil grounded via the tail light circuit or horn or brakes. Check the wiring diagram for which scheme or make a jumper from the core end to common (ground).