The dwell angle provides the coil with the time it takes to saturate the field and make enough Volts to produce the spark. Think in terms of time. More dwell(points closed) equals more time,with current flow through the coil. That said, the timing is a function of the points opening(spark) so the two are related. Set the point gap(that is what controls the dwell angle along with the number of cylinders). Make certain you have the dwell you need. Then proceed to set the timing. There are more than one way to set the timing. That is because the original fuel standards have gone away and new fuel is just different. I like to set the timing with a vacuum gauge(opinion here) at idle to the maximum vacuum I can get(Ogden is at the same altitude as SLC) and then retard for about a 1 inch drop. Test is to pull a hill in top gear and if it "pings" retard a little until it just about stops (pinging that is). If no "ping" advance until it just begins to "ping". It seems to be the best compromise to drive-ability and performance. Also I don't have a timing light with the advance function. With one of those you could get a timing reading in degrees of advance, if you know what year and markings are on your flywheel. But since those have moved a bit from year to year I don't(opinion) bother too much with them. The BB will get it started, good enough for me.
