. . . where is 12 degrees in the dist?
lt1,

Nothing wrong with your method, and I'm not picking nits - but here's an answer to your question. You don't have to find 12 degrees in the distributor. If you put the rotor on the #1 contact with the balancer at 0 degrees, your static timing will be 0 BTDC. If you set the rotor on the #1 contact with the balancer at 12 degrees, your static timing will be 12 BTDC.

I set the balancer on 12, turn on the ignition and rotate the distributor until I see a spark - like Denny mentioined, or put one of those neon timing lights in the circuit. When that spark hits with the balancer on 12, I know I've got initial timing set pretty close to 12. That's a really good starting point for most motors.

This is the method suggested in "How to Hotrod Big-block Chevys," and most of the other reference books I have.

Again, nothing wrong with your method, but I've had better luck setting in a little more inital static advance.