If you are running out of range w/timing adjustment, whoever worked on it last may have not installed the distributor correctly, to check this, set the engine to 5* dead center, pull the cap on the dist. and check where the rotor is at, it should look like this
If it isn't, pull the dist., point the rotor straight up, and insert the dist. with the bolt hole in the center of the alignment section in the dist., the rotor should rotate to the position in the picture. If it doesn't, you could have a timing chain issue, i.e. it jumped a tooth, or wasn't installed correctly.
Do you know its service history, or why your cousin stopped driving it when he did?
