71 Chevelle Engine - Cam / Timing Gear Question

[Hefavitzen]

First off, I only own part of a Chevelle...and it could be another GM product instead.

But, here goes:

I have a Chevy 350 from a 1971 Chevelle (I think/hope)
Casting number 3970014
RPO - CJD

It is in a 1981 Jeep Scrambler mated to a B&M th350 and an AMC 20 rear with 2.75 gears. It works.

My issue is that the previous owner installed the engine with gear drive instead of a timing chain. This thing is LOUD! It makes the Jeep unpleasant to drive and, since few people know what makes that sound, they look at my noisy Jeep and think, "why doesn't that guy add some power steering fluid!".

So, I would like to install a timing chain but I do not know what type of cam is in the engine as I have no receipts for the engine internals. There are plenty of add ons on the engine (edelbrock manifold and carb, Mallory distro) and he went through the trouble of adding the timing gears.

Before I tear it all apart to get to the gears, can you guys tell me from your experience if there is some way to tell what type of cam I have from the front of the cam? I haven't done this before so I am trying to get as much info as possible before I make a mistake. In researching Timing Chains I see that there are many that work for this and that but not for the OEM cam. Or they work for Edelbrock cams and the OEM only. Or they work on roller cams but not OEM, or the work on OEM and no other. But, I do not know what I have and do not want to pop the heads, pull the lifters and rods and pull the cam out to view the numbers between the lobes.

Anyone have any ideas?????? Thanks in advance for the help! Jeff

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