I went dot to dot since I'm not racing it on the track. The old LT-1 rebuilt in '85 which got 43,000 mi was set by my builder dot to dot and it was still dot to dot when I took it all apart. Amazing.
I'll set my total timing to 36* @ 3000 rpm with dist vac disconnected. Haven't done that yet, got to swap the springs first while the heads are on the car. I only did #1 cyl so far. I really appreciate your replies too guys.