Aircooled VW South Africa

Hi Guys

I am experiencing a strange problem with my 1970 Westy Camper 1600 single-port. When I try to start it in the morning the engine would turn over when I crank it but it would not start. When I connect another battery (jump start) the engine turns faster and starts first time. I rebuild the original generator about 3 years ago and the voltage regulator was checked and found to be 100%. I also installed a relay for the starter. Could it be that the earth and starter wires are to old and has got to much resistance now?

Another question: I have heard that a distributor from a Microbus 2.1i could be fitted to my engine and that it would increase the performance and make it lighter on fuel without making the engine run hotter. Is that true? What about the vacuum advance?

Thanks a lot.

Get the battery checked, it could have a dead cell, and will not put out the required amps, check the battery terminals and clamps, clean them with some sand paper, they may need replacement, could be bad earth contact, check all the + wiring contacts as well, could be loose.
Electronic ignition is a worthy investment, the dizzy comes out on the 2.1 & 1.9 WBX motors and is a 100% fit with no mods needed, they are also available on the later model 2L type 4 but you will need to change the clamp as that is different, but all these dizzy's are identical, hell you can even use the electronic dizzy off an Alfa 33.
No start problems no points setting no condenser giving problems. You will only need to set your timing once and its set, no more checking, you will gain better consumption too. The 2.1 dizzy has a vacume advance & retard canister, the retard is for regulating emmissions and can just be plugged, or the canister can just be replaced with the OE beetle one, the 1.9 dizzy is the one you want as it has no retard pickup and just drops in. After sorting out brakes and suspension on my rides the dizzy is next change I make. I also open up the spark plug to 1mm as the elec. dizzy sends out a much hotter spark.