1970 Squareback Running on 2 Cylinders: New Engine?

[manfred]

I have a 1970 Volkswagen Squareback. The odomoter reads 63,000....but I have a feeling it has rolled...at least once. Previous owner claimed no...but that might have been an evil plan to get me to buy it.
Right now it is running on 2 cylinders. Cylinders 1 and 4 are not firing.
I understand that this is not a problem to do with the points, because either 1 and 3, or 2 and 4 would be a missing pair, not 1 and 4.
I don't know what to do to fix my problem.
The symptoms of the situation are, lugging, top speed of maybe 50mph, problems starting, slow warmup, missing, and backfiring.
I am currently parking the beast.
Do I need to put a new engine in the car?
What would it cost to put a rebuilt engine in it?
Is it possible to find a Porshe rebuilt engine instead? How are they compatible?
Thank you for any comments you may have about my situation.

Mandy

[rustbucket]

I would start with a little electrical troubleshooting. Check for spark at the 1 and 4 spark plug wires. If you have spark, pull the plugs and check them out. Replace if necessary. Pull the cap and look at the inside of it. It's possible that the contacts inside are damaged or missing.

If none of that works out, you'll probably need to check the plug wires for proper resistance with an ohmmeter. Should be around 8-ohms. After that, do a compression check. All cylinders should be within 10% of each other.

If you notice, these checks go in order of easiest-hardest, and cheapest-more expensive. It's probably something simple. Invest the $15 in a Haynes manual if you need directions on any of the above tasks. Do a tune up and take it for a spin. The PO probably neglected the maintenance when he knew he was going to sell it. Don't go for the new engine just yet.

As for the T4 (porsche, bus) engine swap, it's pretty straight forward in a Type 3. I believe all you have to do is modify the flywheel. Refer to the current thread in the engine section for links to good sources of info.