1994 Ford Thunderbird 1994 knocking after removing distribu

My problem is after installing new intake manifolds (upper/lower) I wanted to make sure the timign was perfect and there was no vacuum leaks. I went to a friends house and due to the dirt and grease on the flywheel I was unable to see the timing marks. I assumed (incorectly) that it was the notch cut in the flyweel and noticed that I was about 90 degees out of the timign mark. My friend suggested we pull the plugs out pull the distrubutor and make sure they were all in good shape. We found TDC, with number one and made the mistake of installing the plugs on the distr. Wrong. I incorreclty assumed that the cylinders were number from side to side having all of the odd cyl. On the passenger side with all of the even ones on the drivers side. We cranked and cranked the engine until we found our mistake. We then timed it perfectly and it was running good, except for a miss and poor throttle response. It seemed to have a small lag in it. BTW I had replaced the IAC, then the EDG Vacuum regulator solenoid, tested the EGR valve (good), replaced the distributor cap and had new platifnum plugs and plug wires. I may need a TPS as I notice the voltage seems to remain static on a climb to WOT at around 2.5V.

My problem arose afterwards by the appearance of a metallic knock that steadily got worse until I noticed the oil pressure light at idel was moving rythmically with the knock. I immediately thought of the oil pump since the distribuitor gear runs this (i think) and we had removed the distributor. We might have moved the distrubuotr one tooth since we had to turn the distriubot too much when it was in the adjacent tooth.

What could cause this problem and noise? Could the Camshaft bearings gone bad right after repairignthe intake manifold? Could some damage have been done when we were tryingto start with the plugs wired incorrectly?

I recently agreed on a selling price just prior to this mystery knocking and reduce performance running.

Pleaase help me out 2 guys!

Thanks in advance,
TTMax in VA