That's what I have always done on my 1954 and later 235/261 engines.
I have used that procedure on 1954, 1955 325s and on 1959, 1960 261s.
BY the way, I have found the easiest way to set initial timing is to put a vacuum gauge on the wiper-motor pot on the intake manifold and then set timing to the maximum vacuum at idle.
Harvester suggests another good way of setting timing using a vacuum gauge and a tachometer. Other people (Hotrod Lincoln is one) have posted another procedure that sets the timing advanced to
the point that pinging occurs upon acceleration, and then back off by one degree (or, degree-by-degree, until the pinging upon acceleration is gone).
