I think I found a piece of my '84 1.9L timing puzzle/problem... No vacuum at
the timing retard vacuum hose.

Bentley shows (page 24.24), that mine is an early version with vacuum
sources for timing advance and retard at both sides of the throttle valve
housing.  I found no vacuum at the rear throttle housing fitting for vacuum
retard.

Bentley shows (page 24-24a-b), on the later version, distributor retard and
fuel pressure regulator share the same vacuum source.

I capped off my early version throttle housing vacuum source and tapped into
the fuel pressure vacuum line for timing retard as shown in Bentley for the
later version.  Is this OK?

With 2 vacuum and 1 centrifugal inputs to timing, I still am wary of my
timing efforts with a timing light.  Any drift in idle bounced the timing
around.

Should I;

Time it statically, engine off, as described in the Muir, How To Keep Your
Volkswagen Alive (pg. 108-109), and set it 5 degrees after TDC, 7.5mm to the
left of TDC mark(Bentley pg. 13.33)? 
 
Take it to a VW Dealer, have them time it, and come home and line the
distributor rotor with #1 firing mark and paint a mark on the pulley at the
crankcase halves?

Thanks,

Scott Maurer
'84 Vanagon GL