Initial timing

I grew up on old Chevy's. Distributor only went in 2 ways. You were either right or wrong, no "close, but you suck".

Timing by ear is probably the absolute worse way to get it done. I'll end up getting a vacuum gauge and going that route. Next up is converting to hei. It's been a couple of decades since I've gapped points, and I'm not big on playing that monthly game.

I was going to rebuild this distributor with a petronix kit, but, it's about due for a complete overhaul anyway. Going to pick up a new distributor, then rebuild this one as a spare.

From my understanding, the timing marks are useless anymore due to how advanced it needs to go. Is this only true if I stay points, or is it the same with hei as well?