This may be out of the realm of common knowledge, but since it is about the infernal combustion engine, I'll ask anyway and hope for a solution.

My friend called me up early this morning. He says he has car trouble, and wants to know if I can help him get his car going. Now this wasn't the first time he has called up begging for help, and I'm sure it won't be the last. This guy is a computer nerd who would have trouble adding oil without someone showing him how. (Yet he loves to offroad, and at least I get free computer work in return )
Apparently he had bought a 1971 Super Beetle with a Baja kit. When he got it, the engine ran, it drove, everything was alright, except the vacuum leaks. It would go up a steep hill in 3rd gear. The engine had been tuned to run good with the leaks, or so I have gathered. He saw fit to fix it. So in comes me. I find a torn up off road beetle that doesn't run. I get started on it and find that if he keeps the starter running and the choke wide open, I can kind of twist the distributor and make it get back in time sort of. End up we dick around with the thing all day, replacing the condensor, points, and a bunch of electrical connectors and some other stuff. I time it twice by listening to it, and get it running good. Then I adjust the carb twice, getting it to run good. When we started, the thing had to be held at half throttle to get it to stay running, and even then it didn't stay running for long. When I finished with it, you barely pressed the ignition button, and it started right up. It idles great. Then we went for a test drive- well sort of .

The thing wouldn't even back out of his driveway. He got it out of the driveway, and tried to get it up the hill. Not a bad hill easy enough to bike up it. He ran it at full throttle and it still stalled out. I thought it must have been something he was doing, so I took over. I ran it maybe 10 feet at half clutch/full throttle before it died. The thing has no power at all now. I'm used to working on Chevys, so this one has got me stumped. I even got a VW expert to look at it, and he had never seen a car like it (at least the way the engine was cobbled together).

Please any ideas on how to get this car running and on the road would be appreciated. This is his daily driver and he has to get to college 20 miles away, so I need a good repair quick. Thanks.