George,

B18B, auto tranny, original as far as I know.
I think it cranks fast enough, a little faster than my 81 242. The battery is new, and I try to keep it charged. I'm waiting for new tires and front pads before I drive it on roads, so I'm only running it to tune it.
I don't hear or feel it kicking back against the starter, though I'm not too sure what it would sound like. I'll check the timing again, but my dad just broke our shared timing light, so I've got to pick up a new one first.
Essentially my issue is just that it takes a while of cranking before it catches and runs. On average I crank for about 10 seconds (paranoid about burning up starter) and then it starts on the second try, after about 5-8 seconds. Some pumping of the gas pedal is necessary for it to start, so maybe I'm just looking at a fuel mixture problem. I've adjusted the carbs a couple times, but its all a learning experience here, my first carb car.
When my 81 242 was missing the wire that supplies a full 12V to the coil during cranking I used to have to crank for several seconds to get it to start, now with the wire in place it starts nearly instantly every time. So that's what got me thinking that adding it to the 122 would help.
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1981 242GLTi 1967.5 122S Automatic (tempermental)