Lost oil pressure while driving, ideas?

Exactly, once a valve cover is off, you don't need them both yet, pull the distributor and make sure about the intermediate? shaft to the oil pump is ok, then spin to make sure that the pump itself is working. Whatever you do, make a plan and stick to it. You don't want to try to many things at once. The important thing is to check to see if the pump itself is bad. And by pulling the distributor you can see if that shaft is good.