225 Slant Six Distributor Question

When I first started messin with points, most stuff I worked on and drove was stick. This makes it easy. You put the car in "high" gear, pull the cap and if the points are not on the tip of a distributor lobe, you can "bounce" the car in high gear by hand to get it "on top."

I used to mess with a feeler, but after setting about 20 sets of points, I got to where I could just "guess" them open, then adjust with a dwell meter.

With a dwell meter you can check them "on the starter." some cars are worse than others, but generally, whatever reading you get on the starter will probably CHANGE when the car is running. Once you "learn" your car and dwell meter, you can compensate.

Way way better to set with a dwell than feeler. If you have access to an oscilloscope you can set them with that.

The BEST plan, if you drive much, is to convert to breakerless electronic ignition. This is for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is reduced quality of modern points and condensers (capacitors)

Always set timing AFTER you set the points. If the last set of points was set correctly, and if the timing was as well, then when you set the new points correctly, the timing should be right on.