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I am not sure how this might apply to the scoot you were working on but here is what I have seen in other situations.

Some solenoids are bolted to the frame or starter motor but the solenoid itself may not ground itself there. The electromagnetic winding to activate the solenoid can have a separate ground. The safety switches can be on the ground side. If it has a start relay before the solenoid the safety switches would most likely be there and on either the hot or ground side.

I hope this helps if not now maybe in the future.

I am a big fan of sticking with one product when doing paint. I just did a rattle can job and went with Rustoleum products. I was really impressed with the results. they even an adhesion promoter if you are spraying bare plastic. Should be no need to strip the paint off. In fact you are better off not doing that as you have a sound surface to paint on now. Just clean, scuff it up a little with some 240 to 320 grit or maybe a scotchbrite pad until dull and spray. Always keep a wet edge..

The fact that you "ripped off" a system not knowing how it worked or the benefit of it with no gain in performance illustrates my point. It is a common theme amongst the shade tree mechanics in the auto world. The effect of removing this system is that your scooter now dumps 50 to 100 times more pollutants than a scooter with this system left intact. Also, the converter will not work as designed and could get restricted actually causing a performance decrease when you had hoped for a gain.

No China man is going to spend a single cent on something that does not reduce pollutants. These systems work and have proven themselves in reducing emissions without affecting performance. Keep in mind performance and emissions go hand in hand and is a bit of a balancing act. The better an engine runs and the closer it is to the ideal 14.7:1 fuel air ratio the less exhaust emissions it would need. Really these systems clean up an inefficient dirty engine by burning what is left of unburned fuels in the exhaust.

Diluting the exhaust is not the purpose of the PAAR system. It is introducing a small amount of air to excite or accelerate the burning process that is already occuring in the exhaust pipe near the exhaust valve.

Anything that introduces exhaust into the intake I know as an EGR. This is another commonly misunderstood system. It is NOT there to re-burn exhaust gasses as many people do think. The amount being metered is so small that I can see how people would think this is another useless system. It's effect on emissions is to reduce NOX.

It's performance BENEFIT is it reduces combustion temps and pre-detonation or ping. Pre-detonation or ping IS a performance deficit. It is a quick flash off or quick burn of the fuel air charge in the cylinder. What you want is a controlled burn and an expansion that occurs at the ideal crank position and for a good portion of the down stroke. Because designs that use EGR run more advanced timing curves the effect of a not working EGR is ping. So for the person that does disconnect that system they have created a problem. The next thing they do is retard the ignition to cure ping which is another performance deficit.

Even in Mufflers without the cat then the air introduced into the exhaust at the exhaust port would "light off" unburned fuels from the combustion process. I suspect a system with a cat would be different than a system without. These are really very simple systems and once understood could easily be repaired. I think the general attitude though is "you don't need it rip it off". I believe this can create other issues that the person ripping it off won't comprehend.

So it seems that disconnecting the carbon canister has it's concerns too. Why not fix the system? I haven't seen the issue you are talking about but seen the system. My guess is a few of them have done it so the common advise becomes, it's emission junk rip it off and throw it away. Why not put a loop in the hose between the tank and the carbon canister as a cure. Heck I would probably do that if I had the hose vented to atmosphere to keep the gas from spilling onto the floor, exhaust etc.

So where does Kymco fall into the the list of better quality scoots? I know they are Taiwan but I think they may have built some in China too. I think maybe I read that??

KZ1000st you do not have my attention and I am not going to engage you in some game of wit.

I will however state my opinion.

The Chinese scooter is nothing more than a ruse to the unsuspecting consumer. Put side by side to the higher quality Japanese scooters the Chinese scooter is hands down a better value. That is until you figure in the cost of all the little things that are wrong with these things before they are even taken out of the crate and the cost to fix all theses things one by one or all at once. Add that to the fact that they are clearly lower quality which few will deny and therefor less reliable. My guess is paying retail for the improvements and lower life expectency the value actually may be similar.

I now own 4 of these things and it has been about 9 mos. since I decided to buy my first. I am the kind of guy who enjoys projects and using my skills to do things on the cheap. I have yet to have more than $500 into all 4 of these and three of them run. So, I guess I have accomplished my goals. Next spring I will probably sell a couple of them off for a profit making this a pretty much no cost hobby if I do not figure in my time.

So could people like you or myself keep one of these things going? Well, yes and I think we both have proven that. However, could my sister buy one of these things with no mechanical ability and be happy with it? I do not think so! I am going to say this is quite apparent with all the 2 and 3 year old scooters with at times not even 1000 miles on them for sale cheap by frustrated people. The AVERAGE consumer wants something that just works and is reliable. I rarely see any website selling new scooters talking about how you should replace things like valve stems, fuel lines etc. Yes, some do but most don't. I don't think they get what they thought with a scooter from china for the most part and are duped into thinking they are by the people selling these things.

Be happy my friend there is no merit in bashing someone else's efforts in whatever their goals are.

Sorry, but will not post in this thread again as I do not want to derail the subject.