Rod bearing replacement (Update 2)

[Ben Fenner]

All went well, and everything is back together. The sad part? The noise is
still there. I think maybe the rod bearing noise is gone (bearing number
three was pretty bad) but I may have had two problems. Now I'm hearing a
similar sound coming from (hopefully) the head/vavle cover area. I crossed
my fingers, and hoped it was maybe a loose spark plug like someone had
mentioned a day or two ago. They were pretty loose, but upon tightening, the
noise persists. I'm going to pull the valve cover tomorrow and see what's
up. When the car was low on oil, it would take a bit for the oil light to go
off (5 seconds or so) and while it was on, the valves would clatter (the
hydraulic lifters didn't have enough oil yet I assumed). It now sounds like
this all of the time. Could a valve lifter be bad? I'm hoping for this to be
anything in the head. If it's the main bearings, I'm not going to be a happy
camper. By the way, when I had the oil pans off, I know I should have, but I
never tried to move the crank around to see if there was any play left to
right. I'll have more info tomorrow.
Anything is possible though.  I could have the wrong grade bearings in there
(not likely). I could have used too much RTV, and didn't let it dry long
enough before adding oil, and the oil screen filter got clogged, preventing
lubrication, causing the rod bearings to go again (please god, no).
If it is the main bearings, is there anyone in the Columbia, South Carolina
with experience willing to help me with this? Right now I'm like a blind
man, in the forest, at night...

-Ben
1994 Black SE-R