Similar story from Michigan...
Just picked up an 87 2.5-4 speed short box, no spark. New plugs, wires, cap, rotor, coil and ignition control module. I wasn't so lucky that the distributor wasn't spinning, nor the cam.
thanks to eBay I found a $60 aluminum cam gear set and about a month of tinkering here and there it's driving well. I'm in it for $460 now and it'll be a good little gas saver compared to my 8 mile per gallon daily drivers!
moral of the story - swapping cam gears with the engine or cam in the truck isn't all it's cracked up to be. not much fun there.