hi roebuck. the cover over the points just comes off easily. dont worry nothing will fall out.a lot of old villiers engines have lost that cover anyway.
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on your pic you can see the notch for tdc in the threaded shaft.
the timing on these can sometimes be a little tricky if you havent experienced them before. a lot different than the victas.could possibly be the cause of erratic spark.
the coils for them are readily available on ebay too.sold as the long version.ther are quite a few videos on youtube about restoring the engines timing so you shouldnt have a problem there.i really like this particular style with the crank starter. ive recently just acquired one myself. we had one when i was a child and it ran so effortlessly, it was a nice piece.the crank start i never forgot about and have always wanted one.
oh and i forgot to mention that they have a condensor. its a little square thing under the points housing.


If my collection is complete ( then how come i keep buying stuff ? ) 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔