I know that doing it the way the manual states is the proper way to get 3° advancement, but alternatively wouldn't just turning the camshaft a bit before the crankshaft also give you an advancement, though you may not be able to say for sure to what degree without testing it? I just replaced my headgasket and I had everything lined up TDC, but upon closer inspection I noticed that the cam was slightly behind the TDC of the crank. So when I lined up the crank to TDC, the cam was maybe 2-3mm behind the TDC mark on the head, so I removed the chain from the cam and turned the cam only to line up TDC, then I put the chain back on. This actually improved my throttle response, but it made me wonder that if I'm at 0° cam advance, then a 3° advance must improve response even more.