Car dies
And my timing light does not have a dial
That's a GOOD thing. You need to understand timing before you start using fancy stuff that adds problems sometimes.
Timing is ADDITIVE
Once you have determined that the timing marks are correct and that is, to eliminate odd parts swaps, or damage to the balancer which can cause the marks to slip,
1--You set INITIAL or IDLE timing WITH A LIGHT and work from there. You do this with the VACUUM advance DISCONNECTED. You use a vacuum gauge and tach to adjust the timing, the idle mixture, and idle speed screw to get the idle good, and "what the engine likes" for intitial timing. Give the engine enough advance that it idles well, in gear, "takes off" at the launch responsively, does not "kick back" on the starter when trying to start and does not "ping" or "spark knock" at low speed
2--THEN you see if what the distributor ADDS TO THAT which is MECHANICAL ADVANCE. To do this, calculate how many degrees per inch around your balancer and use a tape and scribe to mark the balancer out to 35, 40, and on out to 55-60 degrees. AFTER the initial is set in (1) above, determine how much TOTAL that is INITIAL + MECHANICAL you are getting.
MOST of the time if you have a stock, smog- era distributor, you will have way too much, IE way past 35-40* advance, and this, again is with NO vacuum advance.
NOW you will need to either buy a performance distributor with a short or adjustable mechanical advance OR you will have to "recurve" your distributor by shortening the slots in the advance mechanism.
3--Now assuming you have done all of the above, you have at this point a nice idle, a responsive engine "out of the hole," and it does not ping or knock, NOW you can hook up the vacuum advance and see if it causes any problems during cruising. Assuming you had, maybe 38* total from (1, 2) above, the vaccum ADDS to that and may advance on out to 55-60 degrees with LIGHT throttle and cruising. This vacuum advance helps fuel mileage, and is NOT active under heavier or full throttle.
There is TONS and LIGHTYEARS of material written on this Please do some Googling
https://www.google.com/search?um=1&...8.0....0...1c.1.24.img..4.25.2263.bSPLNomddRw
http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/...809_distributor_setup_quick_tech/viewall.html