My 440 died yesterday, and I would like to avoid throwing parts at it

The worst I've ever seen was on my dad's '69 Fury (383 two barrel). The chain and sprocket were so bad the chain slipped off without removing the cam sprocket. A couple of weeks prior I had driven that car about 300 miles on a church trip, then it broke on my brother as he was arriving at work one morning. In the case of a '69 383 it is an interference engine...it was a mess that we never did get fully right again as dad didn't want to do the heads and I was likely incapable of getting them out at that time. I was in a back brace recovering from a broken back, but I did the rest of the work...