First off thanks for all of the responses.
The truck has a 235 engine and the numbers on the block confirm it’ was manufactured in 57. As best I can determine the 1112396 distributor is the correct distributor for a truck with a power glide transmission. The engine was rebuilt and when I got the truck it had not been driven for some time. The previous owner indicated it did run but he hadn’t driven it much after the rebuild and hadn’t run it for a long time. I bought it without trying to start the engine. When I popped open the distributor cap after I bought it home the original rotor was broken and looked like it had been broken for some time. Napa has confirmed the rotor and cap are the correct ones for the dizzy number and have been kind enough to replace the rotors after they broke. The contact points in the dizzy cap are unevenly worn and what I mean by that is some of them have groves worn in the brass while others look pretty normal. There doesn’t seem to be any play in the dizzy shaft but I’m beginning to think this shaft might be slightly bent but it doesn’t show up when I put ruler on it and turn it. The interference shows up when the dizzy is out of the truck so ruled out the cam shaft. As I said in my original post with the rotor installed the cap has a bit of play in it that isn’t there when the rotor is out.
Now you understand why I’m so puzzled.
