The answer is yes. As for overcomplicating it, I don’t think you are this time. This is making animating the engine easier for the animator(yourself). I would go a different route. Use a bone as the single controller for engine running. It would drive and action constraint. Then just speed up or slowdown the bone’s rotation to speed up or slowdown the engine. I’d also have separate controllers for wobble and engine shake. That gives more freedom and allows to add character to the engine.
Animation and rigging are different creatures that work together. Kind of like modeling and texturing. I love rigging. So in terms of workflow rigging is more rewarding and you have to do a lot of problem solving. Animation is more soul sucking and experimentation. In terms of output or results, rigging is kind of an all at once reward which can be very underwhelming. Animation has lots of check points with satisfying visual feedback. Plus it’s what other people see and praise.
