Because each engine is different I use the timing light to establish a starting point. Then I set the final timing with a vacuum gauge. I get good results without having to use the ping method. There are some tricks to doing this. First, the idle speed has to be set as slow as possible, and the the the timing adjustment must be done very slow until the highest vacuum with a steady needle on the gauge is obtained. I thought about writing and submitting a tech tip on this.
