Mercruiser 3.7 distributor & fuel pump questions

[gw204f]

Picked up 1986 Grady 227 w/a last weekend that had a bad fuel tank, so I wasn't able to run the 190 HP Mercruiser 3.7 that is is powered by. The previous owner had it for 17 years and I was able to speak to the mechanic that has been maintaining it for the past few, so I was pretty comfortable purchasing it w/ out hearing the engine run.

Flash forward to this weekend and I made my first attempt to start it up. Checked the oil and had to drain some to get it to the proper level. Pulled the plugs and reset the gap. Cleaned the flame arrestor. Installed a new fuel filter. All of that looked pretty good. Now the not so good...

I took off the distributor cap to inspect/clean the contacts on the rotor and cap itself. Upon doing this, I noticed that the rotor appears to be hitting the cap slightly. My first thought was someone had installed the wrong rotor, but I've pretty much abondoned that idea. Reason being I can grab the rotor, pull up and get nearly 1/8" of up travel on the shaft the rotor sits on. The rotor doesn't move on the shaft and the distributor housing is solidy mounted. I did a little reasearch and I think this is referred to as "end play" and the amount I have is definitly not normal. There was talk of installing shims to bring it to an acceptable range, but I think mine it way to out of whack to be fixed with washers. Any thoughts?

Despite the cap/rotor issue, I decided to move on with trying to start it. So, I hooked an external fuel tank to the inlet on my water separator, and pumped the ball to move fresh gas up to the carb. I made several attempts to start it, and could never get it to fire (I think I may have flooded it w/ the primer ball). Time was limited so I didn't do any investigative work, but I did manage to find fuel leaking from the fuel pump. Out the battery came... Does anyone know if the fuel pump can be rebuilt?

Thanks.