I believe my father-in-law can do that pressure test for me. He mentioned the sender too. He said its only like $15 bucks and not hard to do. So I might just start there.
What'* all involved in doing the bearings. We talking about tearing apart the whole motor.
I have a lot into his already now.

Doing bearings properly requires pulling the engine, purchasing and installing a crank kit, resizing the connecting rods, changing out the cam bearings and balance shaft bearings, re-assembling and re-installing. It is not cheap, nor easy, nor quick. Also, it is good to have help on this sort of work from someone who is skilled at it. It is easy to make expensive mistakes. It is for these reasons that a good used engine is often a more practical choice.

I would see what the mechanical gauge says, then try the thicker oil and just drive it. If it is not yet knocking, and if you don't abuse it, you could get a lot more use out of it.

Well, it certainly won't be abused. What oil should I run? It gets pretty cold here, below zero sometimes.

Check the accuracy of your pressure gauge first. If it is accurate, and you are running 5W-30, you could just thicken up a bit to 10W-30 and see what that does to the pressure. If you are over 100K mi, 10W-30 is a good idea anyway. If the mechanical gauge reads higher than your dash gauge, try a new sender.

We had three weeks here at 42.04 N latitude (10 minutes * of you) under 32F and many mornings well below zero. Our '95 with Shell 15W-40 started every time parked in the street with no auxiliary heat. We're coming into March now, and things are beginning to warm up, so maybe we've seen the last of the -10F mornings.

Here'* something to consider. Mercedes Benz says that you need a minimum of 7psi oil pressure for every 1000 rpm. My '95 FSM for the Bonneville says oil pressure should be 60 psi at 1850 rpm with 10W-30 at normal operating temperature.

between the LARGE 1/4 tank bars are normal, anything below that is LOW oil pressure according to the manual. It should be a bit over the halfway mark when driving.