Couple things for you, Ken. Others will add their thoughts, too.
Use a Q-Tip or something to dab white paint on the flywheel's stamped timing marks. Let the paint tack up, then a quick swipe with a damp solvent rag will leave the paint in the debossed areas. Safety tip: Do Not do this with the engine running.
Use a separate, fully charged 12v battery to power the timing light. Not the bike's installed battery. Hope you bought a light with a xenon bulb -brighter and you'll quickly appreciate that extra bright light.
You probably have an induction pickup clamp so clip it over the right hand side spark plug wire.
Yes, warm up the engine. I usually remove the front cover and putt-putt around the neighborhood... if it ain't raining! I do hate burning myself on the exhaust while attempting to remove a hot engine cover. Ouch, that smarts!
Use a Sharpie to mark the location of the bean can prior to loosening the two clamp screws. The Airhead is not too particular as to the bean-o can's position; if you get it close, she'll run. Leave the can loose enough to turn by hand -a glove might be handy- but snug enough so that the cam's action doesn't rattle it around.
A big fan blowing across the engine might be helpful if you spend too much time doing the timing work.
You know where the timing plug is. You also know there's cable obstructions in a direct visual line to the flywheel. Gotta deal with it. That's why the xenon lamp is so popular... you can see the timing marks that you previously painted white.
Tweak the bean can to get the timing where you want it. Snug up the clamping screws and check the advance marks as you apply a bit of throttle.
OK... what have I forgotten? People?
