There are a lot of things that affect your timing. The cam, compression, carb, and the fuel you use etc.
With today's fuel, that seems to light off slower, most engines run better with some additional advance over stock setting.
I have been setting ignition timing by advancing the timing until a slight ping is heard, and then back off slightly for 40 years without a problem.
You certainly do not want to run an engine for very long with it pinging or some damage can occur.
It is interesting to me though that my 1997 Blazer with 385,000 untouched miles on the engine has pinged on hard acceleration it's hole life, and that is computer controlled.
