I agree- that sounds stupid. But I will say this- sometimes you need a dedicated ground for the distributor. Otherwise the gasket under the dizzy can impede the grounding. I know, it is supposed to ground through the dizzy body, the cam gear and oil pump shaft. But I have seen it fail to ground enough for the HEI and a dedicated ground wire was needed. A friend was using the Mallory Uni-Lite and kept blowing $100 modules. Testing showed a very poor ground and a ground wire solved it. I also prefer to use real battery cables bolted to the engine. Those jumper clamps are not good enough. Then as for timing I have a system that works great. While the spark plugs are out, run the plug wires to plugs, ground them all to the intake manifold or another good ground. Fresh paint may impede the ground. Hook up timing light to #1. Verify #1 TDC by watching the valves open and close. Spin the motor with no load on it. Watch the timing and set it where it needs to be. By having the plugs out it will spin fast enough to give a good reading but not so fast that the advance kicks in. But you MUST ground the plugs or wires. Otherwise the HEI will short out. Ask me how I know. Anyway this sets your timing accurately without having to actually run the engine.