This question probably is not a stovebolt question, but I asked it on another site and have not gotten any useful information. Hopefully someone here will know.
I am installling a 396 in an 86 Chevy pickup with a bad 350. The 396 is an old engine, with points. The distributor from the 350 fits, everything is fine except it is loose in the block. The 396 distributor has an extra "journal" if you want to call it that, up near the top of the distributor. There are 2 others down to the gear side, both on the 396 and 350 distributors. Without this third "journal", the only thing locating the distributor at the top is where the distributor fits into the manifold. I have between 1/16 and 1/8" of slop up at the top. I thought I would just have to find an HEI distributor for a big block, but come to find out, according to some reliable sources, none of the HEI distributors have the third "journal" at the top. I guess my questions are, is there something wrong with this particular engine that I have causing what I consider is excessive play, and what can I do about it, or should I just bolt it in and use it as is? I have had one guy tell me not to worry about it, but it doesn't look right to me.
Any help greatly appreciated.
PS I suppose I could use my old points distributor, but it would require some additional wiring and I would really like to have the HEI if possible.
