How to replace timing chain on 84 Z 305 ??

Its running rough a little, you can hear a miss in the exhaust pipe, and it will start, run for a sec, then die. All synptoms of a timing chain jumped a tooth.

How do you check this and,

How do you fix this? Do you have to take the whole front of the motor off to do it?

Put a timing gun on it, u should be able to tell if its out of time.

I'd really be eliminating a misfire problem(could be HEI, plugs, wires, valve problem, vac problem, etc.), BEFORE I would be pulling the front cover off for a timing chain....

Its running rough a little, you can hear a miss in the exhaust pipe, and it will start, run for a sec, then die. All synptoms of a timing chain jumped a tooth.

How do you check this and,

How do you fix this? Do you have to take the whole front of the motor off to do it?

you could get it on number 1 cyl the take cap off and see if rotor button is pointing to number 1 inside of cap to see if it jumped time also.