Bartamos the tissue trick is very clever!
SuzieQ, the 5 o'clock position for Number 1 is about where the factory set the distributors up at. One reason, it leant itself to a little less confused spark plug wiring. the others are right, you can wire it from any of the positions, but I like to set mine up at 5 o'clock. I think it looks neater. So if you want to use the 5 o'clock position, now is the time to do it. the 59 235 timing was 5 degrees before top dead center. The 59 flywheel was set up so that the bb was at 5 btdc, but not all of the flywheels had bbs. Most did, some did not. See the link. Jerry is also correct in that if you get it within a couple of degrees, you can get the motor started. Let me post a couple of things that may (maybe not, lol) be helpful.
https://chev235guy.blogspot.com/search/label/Flywheel%20Timing%20Marks
