[Mike V. Florida]

The owners manual tell the owner where to place the lever.
Not having one, you can start all the way up, when driving at any given speed slowly lower the lever taking note of the engine speed. As the lever is lowered the speed on the engine will increase. At the point the engine stops increasing, that is the optimum for the timing.

So with that said if you cannot start and idle the car with the lever up, you have a timing problem.

I would go back, and following the suggestions above, re time the engine. Be sure the lever is all the way up when you do so. If the timing is correct and the point just open with lever just off the top, you need to look else where for the problem.