So in order to continue to eliminate future variables if I have trouble with this 235, I pulled the oil pan to check for crud/metal and found... oil. Which is great! There was a small amount of water in there, but not much, and I've pressure washed the heck out of this engine a couple of times so that doesn't surprise me.
I did some casual (not perfect) bodywork on the pan to get the big dent out, cleaned it up, and then used it as a cleaning pan for the oil pump. Seemed like a good idea at the time
I tested the oil pump with a screwdriver, just spinning it by hand like I was starting a fire with a stick, and it pumped the solvent through just fine, so I cleaned up the pump a bit, displaced the solvent left in the pump with oil instead, and re-installed. Now if I don't get oil pressure or oil to the top end, I know its not the pump at least!