I finally got the chance to use my new toy: a Snap-On MT480 luminosity timing meter. Non-electronic diesel like mine or Mike's are harder to time than newer engines, but this tool makes things pretty easy.
A fitting with a quartz lens replaces one glowplug hole (#3 in my case) and looks at the flash in the cylinder head, and a magnetic pickup senses an indentation on the crank. The two are compared to get a timing result.
I found that with the timing marks perfectly aligned, TDC was at 1400 RPM. With a turbo engine, you typically don't go past 3* advance, so in order to chart the progress I did just one degree advance this first time. EGTs were about 50-100* lower, and there was less smoke on acceleration runs. Power didn't seem to change. I'm shooting for about 2.6* BTDC at 1300 RPM since that should give good turbo respose, lower EGTs, and less smoke.
Mike, let's find a time to do your engine since I brought the meter back with me. We just need to find #3 glowplug, and advance it to whatever 7.3Ls are supposed to be. PM me whenever.