trularin It depends on the money you have. If you are looking for a little extra HP? If money is not a problem, a belt drive wins out if you have a cover for it to drive on the roads. It will last 50K without any problems, is quiet, eliminates alot of engine harmonics, you can adjust the cam timing in 10 minutes, adds life to the motor. You can also pickup about 2-5 hp because of better control of the
oil windage in the
oil pan and timing cover. If you do many camshaft swaps this saves a ton of timing with only removing water pump and intake. No oilpan needs to be touched. Price is in the $800.00- $1,100.00 range. Alot of cars on the road today run belts without any failures for 100K miles and turn 7,000 rpms.
For noise and maken the most HP, gear drives. Setup is important and a good
oil supply to the gears extends their life. This is more for 1/4 mile race cars or someone who wants a blower sound under there hood without a blower. Takes time to correctly setup timing of the camshaft and crank, may need to get special offset shims for the camshaft gear for the correct timing to the crank. Timing always stays perfect, just noisy.
Timing chains, True double roller and steel gears, will last 100K miles without any problems. Over this time period you will get a little stretch of the chain. They are the cheapest of the 3 and just as strong. Advantage is being quiet and dependable. Good oiling of the chain will extend the life for god knows how long. No plastic gears for this setup. Timing is good between camshaft and crank, over time you will see a change in the power of the motor from the chain stretching. Timing marks jumping 5-10 degrees is no out of the question and the car still running ok. If I was running a chain and had room in the timing cover I would add a tensioner to the chain so the slack is taken up on the back side of the chain.
I have 10 years of racing with a Cloyes timing setup and it is still tight. I am going to use a Danny-Bee belt setup on my 498 motor in the future. This will be with a lightwieght valve train.
Bottom line, It's all about money and where to get the MOST bang for your BUCKS. Unless racing, spend the money on Head work, Intake work, exhaust pipes, or carb. You don't need that gear noise under the hood to hear your motor running and it only will give you about 3-8 HP at 6,000 rpms and up. Stay with a chain and gears, 98% of the cobras are running them without any failures.
If the chain broke, most times something locked up and broke it. Rick L.