Yes, we're disconnecting the hose from the distributor and plugging it to set the timing. I don't recall if we checked base timing again after hooking it back up, but we did check total timing with it hooked up. We got 30 degrees at 2250 with base at 10, 35 at 3000 with base at 15. Don't recall if we checked total with base at 20.
The distributor advance is hooked directly to ported vacuum. We didn't use the CTO valve.
We'll check base with the vacuum hooked up if we ever get it running again. Right now we have bigger problems. See the post on "Collapsed Piston".