for compression testing, you want to get as much air flowing (and compressing) as possible, so keep the throttle wide open so the "suck" is not just drawing a vacuum. I keep turning the engine until the needle on the gauge is stable(ish). Important to be consistent with this on all 6 cylinders. I also remove all the plugs before I start, partly to enable the engine to spin faster on the starter, and partly as it's easier, especially as I'll probably repeat the test at least once. As you progress, the battery may get a bit flat, so be alert to the sound of the starter as you go
for leak-down testing, I have built a DIY tester from some air tool valves, lines, etc. The orifice plate is a 1mm hole drilled through an epoxy filled connector. I've always managed to balance the piston at TDC when doing this. It doesn't work every time, but I have a 360 degree protractor which I fix on the vibration damper to allow a degree of accuracy when setting to TDC. To build the fitting that screws into the spark-plug holes I smashed the ceramic centre out of a spark plug and glued some compressed air line through the metal part. I built this tester kit when a top-end rebuild on my E24 took a wrong turn and the rings got gummed up with carbon the deposits I'd scraped off the piston crowns (whilst I was there...
). The leak down test clearly diagnosed poor ring sealing, which was then fixed with a slug of ATF in each plug hole.