First mistake is Auto-Zone.

AMEN!  

Homer the Superbus was an electrical nightmare for 3 years.  I fed it a steady diet of generators, regulators, starters, and batteries (good used Bosch generators and starters, new batteries and regulators from Auto Zone).  All major electrical components had a life expectancy of less than 6 months.  I had a one year free replacement warranty on one battery I bought . . . I got two free ones and a third one went bad at 14 months.  I finally broke down and bought a Bosch regulator.  I haven't had ANY electrical problems since!

I have been in a tight spot before and had to use AutoZone points (if your only transportation won't run and the nearest Bosch points are 30 miles away . . . well, sometimes you gott'a do what you gott'a do) . . . Have them look up the points for a half dozen different air-cooled VWs.  Give 'em different years and different models.  Sooner or later they will bring you points with the wire going in the right direction.  Once you get it running, drive somewhere that sells Bosch and get you a spare set . . . if you're running AutoZone points, you'll need them pretty soon.

How many notches does your pulley have ?

Is there a larger mark on the outside face of the pulley (toward you)
Maybe a 1/4 inch wide ?

Is there a larger mark on the outside face of the pulley (toward you)
Maybe a 1/4 inch wide ?

Not that I noticed but I'll have a closer look tomorrow (bit dark now!)

I would take a picture & post it but Al's gone home to England & taken my camera!

Is there a larger mark on the outside face of the pulley (toward you)
Maybe a 1/4 inch wide ?

Nope there's no mark there - just the single notch on the outside.  I hooked up my timing light to it and the notch is currently way over to the left, almost underneath the belt.  If I try and get the notch to the top by turning the distributor, the engine RPM drops, it coughs and splutters and then backfires!

I don't have an advance knob on my timing light - does this mean I can't properly time it?

I do have the notch on the inside of the pulley and the timing light is over #1 spark plug wire.  If I hand turn the distributor until the engine sounds best (ie highest RPM, no chugging, backfiring, misfiring) the timing mark is way over to the left.  If I try and twist the dist so the notch is right at the top the engine RPM drops and I get an occasionaly backfire.

Maybe the RPM is supposed to drop when the timing is correct and the backfiring is another problem?

You can get close. With the light you have you can only set your timing at  idle. As I have stated many times in past posts that advance curves on a lot of dist. are not the same. What you are looking for is 32 degrees total advance @ about 1500 rpm. Nobody Idles around  town, so should we be concerned if it Idles at 6.5 ,7,8 degrees? I sure don`t.  The down side of this is ,you don`t have any way to check total advance  with the light you have. You talked about some other white marks ? Not being there ,Im not sure what you are looking at.  Do not set your timing where it really sounds good. You then may have the timing way to high and this WILL cause engine damage. Is there anyway I can come see what you have? I have the proper timimg light to double check and make sure there is not something else giving you a "fit". You can call me 894-3374 during the day most of the time. I would be glad to help you out if you wish.

Since the subject of timing has come up here a couple of times recently, I’ve started thinking about it.  :-k   What if you have got a low-end timing light without the advance/retard dial? You can still use it to check your maximum advance if you have a degree pulley. OK, what if you’ve got a stock pulley and don't want to invest in another timing light and want to keep your stock pulley? This will take a little time and effort, but it should work . . . I think. I HAVE NOT TRIED THIS . . . YET, but I will at the first opportunity. Y’all shoot holes in my theory before I have to build another engine for Homer!   :lol:

Way back in nineteen seventy . . . something . . . seventy-five, I think . . . I took a year of geometry in high school. It was interesting, and I kind'a understood it on paper, but they never really told us what kind of cool stuff you could use it for. If I were a geometry teacher and really wanted to get teenage boys to WANT to understand the subject, my whole lesson plan would be centered around an internal combustion engine.

If you measure the diameter of the crank pulley and multiply it by pi (don't know if that's the correct English spelling . . . it's pronounced "pie" spelled π in Greek) which it seems like is equal to 3.147 . . . 3.something . . . I'll have to look it up to be sure . . . it’s been a LONG time since I took geometry. Anyway, diameter X pi will give you the circumference of the pulley. I guess you could just measure the circumference, but unless you have a really flexible tape, the diameter will be easier to measure. There are 360 degrees in a circle (the pulley), so divide the circumference by 360 and it will tell you how far on the circumference of the pulley you have to move to get 1 degree of angle. Multiply that by 32. Once you have determined FOR SURE where Top Dead Center is at, measure over that distance around the circumference and file a notch in the pulley and mark it with white paint. Make sure you measure in the correct direction. Measure from the top over to the right (passenger side) so that this mark will reach the split in the case 32 degrees BEFORE Top Dead Center.

Once you have a mark for 32 degrees before TDC, use your stock timing light on it. Rev up the engine until the 32 degree mark stops moving . . . adjust the distributor so that it hits the split in case. Lock the distributor down, rev it up and recheck it.

Will that work?