I am relatively ignorant of the inline 6's design... and so this is a pretty rudamentary question. First, does it use a timing chain between crank and cam? And if yes, does anyone make a gear drive? I have a project that really deserves the annoying whine that a gear drive can offer.

Its a factory gear drive engine. You don't really get a lot of the "whine" you normally associate with a Pete Jackson style gear drive in a V8.

Someone sells a straight cut timing set on eBay sometimes. It should make some unnecessary noise.

The set is made by Cloyes and is available at any auto parts store. It is noisy. Tom

Here it is. Cloyes Well it was there when I started!

Try this,
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CLO-8-1018/

It will be cheaper at different locations though. Tom

Thanks, all. This is what I'm looking for... quiet engine (as in not a big lumpy cam), quiet, but throaty exhaust (which I've got), and a gear drive to make annoying whining noise.

BTW, at the link above, under the "specs," they indicate--

Beat the teeth up a bit, they'll make noise for a while. The price for that set from Kragen/O'Riley's is over $300!

Tom, is this the gear sets you are going to be using, or did they send you the 8-1016's.

The Cloyes 8-1016 is what they sent me for the dyno work. Much nicer than the foriegn parts!

The 8-1018 will definately make noise. They are a straight tooth design. Tom

So, Old Buddy what happens to the extras when the tests are over?