.008 may not seem like much, but if the dist was borderline before, the extra shim he put in may have sent it over the edge.
Also, you remember if there was more than one gasket on the dist when you pulled it the first time? Broke people (like me) dont buy shim kits, they stack dist gaskets to space the dist up.
And because ive been down the same road before, was the motor a little hard to crank? because if it was, you can be sure the oil pump is damaged.