Tacoma 2015 2tr problem.

Hey its me again thanks for reading whoever doess. This forum has been super helpfull so ill give it another shot.

I got a 2015 tacoma with a 2tr engine that has just been rebuilt 1 year ago. At first i had to pull it out from the car for a 2nd time after the machine shop wich assembled the engine requested it in order to service it.

Now a year later engine is knocking on the upper part. Did an inspection removing the valve cover to discover few things missing as well.

1st front timing cover was missing 3 bolts had a severe leak due to that. I had to reinstall a new one with a new oil pump thinking it would solve my problems.

2nd removing the valve cover after hearing that hard knocking coming from the top i notice some of the lifters where actually stuck closed.

And 3erd i just notice checking all the old parts i got replaced. The actual chain tensioner that came with the engine did not have a lubrication point on it. As shown on the picture.

Now pin pointing this issues a shop told me that i needed to replace the vvti on the camshaft. Im halfway trough this assembly at the moment and just notice it cylinder number one was getting oil in the spark plug tub. And the spark plug had a lot of carbon build up on top of it. (Another picture reference).

So after all this im actually requesting help on how to proceed. I just want to take the noise out. Before it would make it just at the beggining when starting but after the severe leak it was nonstop. I replaced the front timing cover hoping this will fix all my issues but after turning it back on and after a oil service it dosnt go away anymore. Also a 4th thing i notice the front plate oil pump has kinda like 2 marks that i would guess goes in the damper sprocket but i dont see anywhere that would fit.
(Another pictures to show).

 

Any reason you aren't just asking the shop that rebuilt a year ago to fix it? Sounds like some parts were left out during the rebuild.

 

Well its been a year probably out of warranty and they would ask me to get the engine out again and take it to them