I just received my distributor back from Jerry M. after a rebuild (it looks brand new). According to his calibration report, centrifugal advance total is 22 deg. and the total advance is in at 2700 rpm. The total timing is 36 deg. at 3000 rpm. My question is: once installed do I need to be concerned with the total timing?
What I mean is, would I be better off to get a better timing light (one that you can dial in the timing) and set the total timing to 36 deg. at 3000 rpm?

Just put a mark on your balancer at 36 degrees BTDC and use a regular timing light.

easier yet, since you know the mech advance is 22, subtracting that from 36 gives us 14.

Set your initial timing (with the vacuam advance disconnected and plugged) to 14 degress and you're good to go.

Thanks for the suggestions. Both of these suggestions mean that I need to mark the balancer in degrees to determine either of these measurements.

the timing tab on your front cover is measured in degrees all ready, right?

You don't need any special measuring equipment to make a 36° BTDC mark on your balancer. Due to extraordinary planning by some old mathematicians, 36 degrees just happens to be one tenth of the circumference of the balancer. You can deduce the circumference of the balancer by direct measurement or by using the measured diameter and some high school math, circumference equals 3.14 times the diameter. After you have arrived at a circumference, shift the decimal one place to the left to divide it by ten, and you will have the measurement necessary to mark 36 degrees.

As an example, an 8" balancer has a circumference of about 25.12", shifting the decimal to the left gets us 2.512" BTDC as the place to put the 36° mark.

Jim, yes the timing tab is marked but I wasn't sure how many graduations it had. I haven't been able to do much since having surgery but I just looked at the tab. It has seven graduations on each side. So, if each increment is 2 degress that puts the last mark at 14 degrees.
onova... I am not mathematically challenged but I do appreciate the "ciphering" :-).

So it boils down to this, install the distributor and set the initial timing to 14 degrees instead of 4. Correct me if I am wrong.

you are correct, drdave, and that last mark on your tab should be right there.

For those of us with 6 3/4 balancers it's even easier. 6.75 x 3.14 gives us 21.195, divide by ten and round 5 ten thousanths and it's 2 1/10, the width of a piece of duct tape and a line from a whiteout brush. I'm ready to go get mine running now!

JimM, thanks a bunch. This info helps tremendously once I am physically able to do this.

go get em, dave.... know what u mean, just took another muscle relaxer to get my back to settle down... I AM gonna paint this car today!