Replaced timing chain and gears, same amount of chain slack

[neirfin]

Was replacing the intake manifold on the engine (350) and figured I would check the timing chain (no idea how many miles on this engine, crate engine from the 80's). It was pretty loose on one side, slightly loose on the other and I could move the balancer about 10 degrees before the dist moved, and the crank gear has some tooth wear on the inner face of the gear, so thought, OK time for a new timing set.

got the new set, slapped it on and walah! the new set has the same amount of chain slack... there was two sets from Oreilly, one inverted tooth (the same that was on the engine, same one i replaced it with) and the other (going to pick it up and see if it helps the slack, but somehow i don't think it will). was trying to keep the single row rather than double roller to avoid having to do long water pump and redo all of the pulley configuration... i think the double roller will require more clearance between short water pump and cover, but not 100%...

Where should i start looking, or what could i be missing (time for a new engine??)? it is very possible this crate engine was rebuilt once or twice along the way before i owned it, could rebuilding the engine cause the cam/crank measurements to be different, leading the chain to be too loose? a friend said there should be 'a little' slack, but it seems like way too much since i can push it almost all the way back to the gears on one side.