If the ball is left of the pointer the timing is advanced- - - - -not retarded. The spark plug is firing BEFORE the ball reaches the pointer- - - - -if that's retarded timing, somebody has repealed the laws of physics. With the vacuum line disconnected and the engine running at normal idle speed, set the timing with the ball and the pointer aligned by loosening the clamp screw and the "octane selector" set at the zero line. Then tighten the clamp, and if you absolutely must tinker with the timing out on the road, you can tweak things a little with the selector. It shouldn't be necessary to do that.
Listening for detonation on an uphill pull is a fool's mission- - - -by the time you hear the knock, you're WAY into engine-damaging over-advance. I had 20-something years of dyno run documentation to prove that until an idiot assistant principal decided to clean out some filing cabinets in the high school auto shop I ran for decades.
Jerry
