To advance or Not

Intake is off... nope don't need anything but a lifter. If you have two old lifters you can crazy glue them top to top so when you place it in the lifter bore there is a nice flatish surface to reference.

You can do it with a the lifter iun the bore, you put indicator on the flat upper edge of you lifter. Having a long dial indicator extension can work for this as well. You can even put the indicator in the pushrod well in the lifter!