So I managed to find a 3874876 distributor off ebay and am getting the parts together to make it good again. Gear was cracked - easy fix from NAPA. Got a new magnetic pickup from oldcarpartsnw as the old one had a frayed cable.
However, when I got it apart finally I was looking at the springs (pics should be attached). It appears they were both blue at some point but are pretty funky. Also, one spring is considerably beefier than the other. Is this normal?
I'd like to replace the springs with fresh ones. This slant is in a W150 truck.

The other question I have is that the bearing in the distributor is proud internally. Is this normal? (pic should be attached as well).

Also, when cleaning, do I need to worry about coatings like a carburetor or can I give it a good scrub to remove the grime and/or rust?

Thanks!

Lets try this again:

Bushing position is normal. So is one light/one heavy spring. The springs you have look just fine; they shouldn't need replacement, and if you replace them you un-do this distributor's advance curves. You did re-drill the new drive gear, and did not use the hole it came with…right?

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I have not installed it yet, but yes I will be sure to follow the gear thread. Thanks Dan! I'll go ahead and reassemble then. The springs did clean up fine. It was all external shmutz.

As Dan stated it all looks normal... there are no OEM spring sets, the stockers will last decades unless you dip the thing in acid or dump it in the ocean...

I would take a moment to clean it up good in the parts washer, the OEM body is bare aluminum with no clear coat, make sure to get some lube in the bore
and on the pivot points... you can look in the articles section, new article will show you some of these highlights on reassembly... of big importance if this
is a junkyard salvage is to check the clearance on the shaft and bushings...if tolerence is bigger than .001-.002 the shaft may wobble and you will have
some intermittent timing problems... also make sure to check the reluctor gap after assembly...

If looking to change the springs for a faster curve... we can run it on my machine and make adjustments... being that you have a truck, it may not like the
stock vacc can... if you get a lot of ping on the highway under load, replace with a new VC-239 and it should keep things nominal...

Right on. I cleaned it up nice and spiffy, lubed the shaft and pivot points and drilled the hole for the gear. I found some cardstock that was about 0.007" for the shim on reinstall. It shifted a bit and is probably closer to 0.01 now.
clearance on the shaft is very minimal - I don't have that small a gauge or plastigauge but I can't deflect the shaft at all, and on reassembly it was pretty snug. Not SNUG snug, but not a drop in either. Shaft spins freely.

What is the reluctor gap value? I was wondering that - I have the shop manual for my year truck but of course its a 2 wire dizzy.

I'll pick up a vc239 to complete it. Now for a 1945 carb and the HEI conversion will be ready to go!

.008 to .010 is fine, use brass feeler gauge