Funny stuff. I had a 318 in an old truck jump time. I pulled out the distributor and turned it 180 dropped it in and got it started. But what i think you have is that the distributor is not installed right, for what ever reason? And that the wire order on the cap was arranged to compensate for the wrongly inserted distributor. Probably easily fixed? At least i would think if you know how to set it up correctly..if not, ask.
