Timing??

[Bort62]

The only bolt-like thing under the rotor is the point cam. I can assure you that if you put a socket on it and turn it hard enough, you will either shear the roll pin on the drive gear or strip the gear entirely. This will definitely affect oil pressure, but probably negatively.

Look at the oil pressure sender to the right of the fuel pump. If the wire comes loose and hit a ground, it will peg the gauge.

Well yeah, there is that - but that wasn't quite what I had in mind

 

[flash_point01]

I was driving along and the problem corrected itself. the gauge slowly came back to a normal pressure and has been holding steady since. because the gauge moved slowly i have doubts about it grounding out, and not having messed with that bolt again i doubt that was it. Maybe the sensor is starting to go out. Is there anything else that might cause this?