Any ideas to why this oil pump was failing like it did.
It appears I have a combination of problems stemming from (oil starvation) gobs of RTV and old gasket material in the crank journals but I would not want to repeat the same mistake with the oil pump.
Could improper timing belt tension cause this? I'm assuming the metal shavings that damaged the rod and crank bearings came from the oil pump but I could be wrong. I cannot find another source of the metal that cut groves in the bearings

Contamination. Plain and simple.

The engine was starved of oil pressure, that caused slow bearing failure and later major component failure which shed metal into the oil which then tore grooves in the oil pump shaft itself, the problem didn't start with the oil pump if that's what your thinking, the oil pump damage is a result not a cause.

Besides all of the problems - rtv, gasket material. etc, I will bet the crank had shit in the end of the rod throws that eventually washed out also.

There is some sort of junk in the crank that I could pick out. It seems like petrified gasket material. Its black and very hard, but not magnetic

Look like this stuff????
https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/pull-your-balls-to-properly-clean-your-crank.472402/
Ours was hard but crumbly like charcoal.

Wow, thanks for the link. That is exactly it. I didn't get that much out, but then again I wasn't trying. I have a few small groves in the crank that can barely be felt with a finger nail, so a polish is needed at the minimum, hopefully the machinist can open it up and clean it out good

It is a necessary part of every 4g63 rebuild. Those dead end throws hold a lot of crap. I am getting ready to clean out my sons 7 bolt crank so I will take some pics when I do it to see how bad it is.
His bearings looked like yours, but he said he had good oil pressure still. That gritty crap sure takes it toll on bearings.

I had good oil pressure too. Probably not for long.

My sons motor was running a cut crank (1.0 mains and .5 rods) that is soft too but it didn't show any bad scaring. I am putting a different crank in it though now.

That black stuff is coke from oil that was overheated, if a crank journal is repeatedly overheated it will form that stuff, and from poor quality oil that is broken down and still used.

There's just no way for it to get out of that dead end throw to cool off and circulate so I religiously clean them out the best I can.