The orientation of the intermediate shaft means nothing.
As long as at TDC on #1 cylinder the rotor lines up with #1 wire you are good.
The reason the service manuals show the orientation is so that by following the procedure the average person will be able to have enough distributor movement without the vacuum advance unit crashing in to anything.
The procedure came from the engine test stand assembly procedure when the engine was tested at Chrysler.
Follow what Nitrousin said . Get TDC on #1, with both valves closed, and check the rotor location.
I doubt your lifters are the issue after all the attempts to start the engine.
the slot doesn't matter IF you don't care about plug wire location on the cap. if the plug wire location on the cap is correct then the slot needs to be correct to allow for proper distributor movement. some people don't care; i do.
