Thanks for the kind words, all of you.
In one of my previous rambles, I mentioned that the timing chain tensioner did not pop out when removed, but must have worn a groove and it was stuck in that groove. I can push it in and feel the "click" of the pin going over the groove. I ordered a new tensioner and put it in this past Saturday. As I was handling it, it was obvious that this new tensioner had a heavier spring in it an looked a bit different too.
I decided to make and un-scientific test and grabbed the old flywheel and set it onto the old tensioner (on the left) to see how far it would push the spring in. I marked it and this is about 85% of the full range of motion for the plunger. I did the same thing to the new tensioner and you can see the difference. Old = 122K miles and about 2x the movement under the same weight. The old spring is much weaker and the plunger was stuck.
Not sure what this all means but my guess is that the old tensioner spring is tired and/or Porsche has made many updates and one being a new heavier spring.