When I bought my '77 Roadrunner (318) there were 2 things I did to it when I got it home from the dealership. I took the catalytic converter off so dad could take it to the plant and run a 2 1/2" drill through it and weld a piece of 2 1/4" ID pipe inside it. While I waited for dad to get back from the plant with the converter, I changed the timing chain and sprockets over to Direct Connection double roller. The car had 17 miles on it. The chain lasted 75000 miles. Granted, that's a lot better than the 50K you can expect from a link plate stocker.