1984 Volkswagen Van No ignition spark past the distributor

Electrical problem
1984 Volkswagen Van 4 cyl Manual

My water-cooled van won't start. There normal fuel delivery and it turns over just fine, but there's no spark at the plugs.
There's a spark between the ignition coil and the distributor cap (I held the wire tip next to the distributor cap), but past the cap, there is nothing.
I recently replaced the plugs, wires distributor cap and rotor, and it ran perfect for about 100 - 200 miiles before it just died, as if someone just turned off the key.
How do I recolve this issue? If it's becauas ethe timing jumped a tooth, I will need a little info on finding the timing belt/chain. I'm a life-long shade-tree mechanic, but new to VW's and I can't locate the timing cover, nor any info on it online.