Volkswagen: 1971 Beetle, fuel contamination, tank sealer

Question
My neighbor just bought a 1971 Orange Beetle. The car won't start but will attempt to turn over. It begins to backfire immediately and you can smell gas. He doesn't have Internet access and has little money so getting this car to run is important. I would like to help him if I can, and anything you can provide will be much appreciated. He has put new points and marked the timing. He can't start it so he can't set the timing, but he is convinced the timing is OK. He has also cleaned the carburetor. Please let me know if you can help. Thank you in advance.
James Jones

Answer
James,
   First of all, you are a real sport for helping him out.  I wish you both the best on bringing it back to life.  Now, the best advice I can give is to start at the beginning, treat it like a full-on, top to bottom tune-up.  Follow this link to Rob and Dave's excellent write-up on this, and print it out.  It even includes adjustments on the same carb that should be on the car, the 34PICT-3:
   http://www.vw-resource.com/tune-up.html
If you are going to DIY most of this, you'll need to invest in some basic tools as well as a compression tester, dwell meter and timing light.  All of these you could help him buy for relatively cheap on eBay.
 A couple things not mentioned in the tune-up, you should check the gas tank for rust/crud and completely flush it out, maybe using tank sealer if required.  Flush the gas lines and blow them out with compressed air, replace the fuel filter, and completely teardown the carb to clean any gas varnish and blow all the jets/ports out.  There is a chemical dip that comes in a gallon can (which come with a parts dipping tray) you can buy especially for this purpose.  You must be meticulous about this because fuel contamination will make everything else difficult, if not impossible.  Also don't skimp on replacing all the old rubber gas lines, front and rear as appropriate, using clamps everywhere.  More bugs/buses have been left on the side of the road as burning hulks because of shoddy fuel maintenance.
 This all may seem daunting at first.  But cool thing is, because of the parts availability and collective knowledge on aircooled VWs, your neighbor will have one of the few vehicles on the road today that you can totally DIY and keep alive far into the foreseeable future.
  Coincidentally I own a 1971 Super Beetle, Orange...

- Rick