Well I finally got a weekend to spend some time on the vette. It has been killing me not being able to drive her in the best part of the season. A few weeks ago she died when traveling at around 30mph. Found the distributor was not turning and felt I broke the timing chain.

Today I drained the oil and noticed slight grey looking for the first 5-10 seconds of the drain (not a good sign). Pulled off everything needed to get the timing cover off and the chain was still on... hmm... felt like allot of play in the chain and then I noticed that I could just lift it off without unbolting the timing set. About 1/4 of the gears on the cam part of the set was rounded off. AHHHHHH! (110 K miles). When I touched the gear a grey silvery residue was easily coming off on my fingers.

What needs to happen next? Can I replace with a new timing set and flush by making a couple oil changes after short run times? Do I need to pull the engine and dissassemble?

Wow! That sux!
You can just change the gears/chain, without any problem. Do a couple of oil changes after that, and you're good to go.
The grey/silvery crap is ground up 'luminum, from the cam gear. Replace the gears with steel gears only!! I prefer to use double roller gears/chain, due to the greater durability of them. They're not that much more expensive than normal, and will last way longer!

Well thats great news! No need to drop the oil pan? Check or change oil pump?

If figure if I can get her running again without too much pain/cost, that will give me more time to decide on the real engine upgrade path (crate or rebuild mine). I have never changed a timing chain or water pump etc, etc.. so this is new territory for me. So far things have been coming off OK. I will probably need some pointers to get this stuff back together with the position of the crank, cam, timing set, distributor.

In looking at my hand dandy Haines manual, it looks like I need to get the crank so it is at TDC (?tips), then turn cam to align the mark with the mark on the crank gear (verify matches #1 in distributor?) and put gearset on. Is this right?

Yup!!(in a nut-shell)
It might be a good idea, since you already have the front off, to drop the pan, clean it out, and change the oil pump while you're there. Preventative maintenence, don't ya know?!
Line the two marks on the gears up, crank @ 12, cam @ 6, and you're done. The rotor on the dist., should point at #1 plug, but beware; I've seen some cam gears that are 180deg off on the mark. If it don't fire up right away, and it belches at ya, run your plug wires again, but move them directly opposite of where they are.(it's easier than pulling the dist out & turnin it, but you could do that, if ya want).

Thanks Joel.

To drop the pan I need to disconnect the idler arm? lower front steering linkage? converter inspection cover? then change the oil pump? Is this difficult for a beginner non mechanic (I am learning as I go)? Any tips? Can the pan be loosened and slid backward and out without disconnecting steering components? Anything I need to be concerned about with the oil pump replacement?

Also, is dropping the oil pan and changing the oil pump a must task or just a good thing to do? 

FLA VETTE38819.7843634259

No, Bernie, just a suggestion on the pump. It's not a really hard job if you got it in the air, but a bit of a pain on yer back! You can get by with just the chain/gear change.
(The pan will not come out without droping the steering linkage, but with the linkage dropped, it comes off easily.)

Joel:  Sounds like the gear change is pretty simple - My question is - the previous owner - Buba put in a different cam - Am I correct in that I must pull timing chain cover - to look at end of cam shaft - there should be mfg markings on the end -to tell me what cam and specs - Is this correct

Thanks  Big Al

You can hope.  You might find info on the end of the cam.  And you might not.  It depends on who made the cam.   If you find numbers it probably won't give you the specs, but give you enough you can find the specs.   I would look if you are there, but don't get your hopes too high.

Most quality cams do have mfg. markings/part #s on them. The bad part is......its usually on the rear journal/face of the cam!!

ThaNKS, aLL i KNOW IS THAT THE ENGINE HAS A NICE LOPY IDLE, SOUND GREAT .wHEN i BOUGHT THE CAR - PREVIOUS OWNER DECEASED - i WAS TOLD IT WASN'T A NUMBERS MATCHING CAR - WHICH WAS ok WITH ME. aFTER ALL THESE INQUIRIES ABOUT NUMBERS - LOW AND BEHOLD - MY BLOCK IS THE ORIGINAL, THE HEADS ARE LT-1 HEADS (ACCORDING TO THE CASTINGG NUMBERS) po CHANGED INTAKE TO rpm PERFORMER - SO IT LOOKS LIKE A HAVE A NON BASE 350 IN THE ORIGINAL BLOCK . wEIRD - THE HEAD DATES ARE VERY CLOSE TO THE ENGINE MFG DATE . mAYBE THE po DID SOME RESEARCH BEFOR THE SWITCH.

iF i EVER TEAR DOWN THE ENGINE - I CAN TAKE A LOOK AT THE CAM, CRANK ETC -BUT FOR NOW IT RUNS ,AIN'T BROKE SO WHY MESS WITH IT

bIG aL