RJRRRRR5

I'm new, so any help is appreciated.
I HAVE A 2001 gt with a lot of freeway miles and recently I began hearing the famous "ticking" that I have heard is the Timing belt tensioner. The funny thing is that it runs great and had just easily passed CA smog. Driving home the oil pressure went to zero and the ticking got worse. I shut it down and restarted and the pressure went back to normal and the ticking returned to the original noise level. I'm not driving it currently, but have started it often to keep the battery going. Yesterday, the pressure went to zero and the pressure is gone for good this time.
Questions- Can I get to the oil pump through the pan or do I have to go through the timing chain cover? Could the timing chain tensioner caused the oil pump to go? Are they related?
The car runs great and doesn't miss, so my hope is that it is "just" the oil pump.
Thanks in advance!
RJRRRRR5

wmfateam

Where did it go, I can't google