Weird thing about this (to me anyway!) is that you are reporting a crummy idle along with the noise.

If you had just reported the noise, I might have some ideas, but everything that comes to my mind can't be put together with the idle problem occuring at the same instant.

They did both happen at exactly the same time, yes ?

Maybe it's best to approach the problem as two seperate problems.

You've checked the timing belt tensioner ?

It's definitely toward the front of the engine ?

As for the oiling issue, why not try spinning the pump with an electric drill ? Maybe chuck one of them 5" rubber sanding disc pads and push that on the front of the pulley ?
I had an old lawnmower that I used to start that way.