timing chain slack
 

Is there an allowable amount or is any at all no good?

Its a single roller pro gear if it makes a difference, took off the timing cover and it has a small amount of play.. ~1/4 inch if both sides are slack.

Been on the car no more than 6k miles... am I just being overly cautious?

Freeplay at the mid point between the sprockets should not exceed 1 inch.

A small amount of slack is normal. A quarter inch is actually pretty damn good. When I took off my stock chain, it was literally flopping around.

i have my stock engine on a stand at home maybe i'll get a pic of what the stock one looks like after 140k miles this weekend?