Timing chain and headache..

[AllThingsGravy]

My 92 s13 has a ka24de and ran pretty good. Burned oil here and there but was peachy for the mileage (220k) but it had a little knock coming from the valve cover that was starting to get worse and annoyed me so one today I took apart the valve cover and upper front cover to discover that the timing chain is smacking the top of the valve cover. I know this is what is causing the noise because the valve cover has marks on the inside that indicates its lose and hitting it. I thought there was too much slack so I decided to change the upper tensioner only and that it would fix it. So I put it back together and it was still the same but a little worse. Now it was making itself present even more and was hitting harder. I drove it around the block and nothing was different except the noise was more constant but after driving it for a while the car bogged and would not start back up (timing chain was out of control). Mind you this is all the same day. I got the car towed home and I took everything apart again and looked at the tensioner and saw it wasn't bolted completely to the block (my mistake) and was not putting a ton of tension on the chain. So I tightened it and put everything back but once again I turned on the car and the noise is still there. At least the car starts now but not in drivable condition. I was reading that the chain might be stretched but I'm not sure, also the top 2 guides were removed already so that's not the problem. I also have not ruled out low oil pressure. So yeah any help is appreciated guys.

TL;DR

-Car was fine with a small rattling from the front valve cover at 2-3k rpms non existent with foot off throttle.

-Changed upper tensioner only and didn't fix. Made car worse

-Car broke down would not start because chain.

-Took apart again to see again what happened. tightened tensioner to see if would work, turns on now but constant smack on the valve cover...