The mechanical gauge idea is a good one. Remember, the factory gauges are damped so they react very slowly to changes in oil pressure. They're also not very precise or accurate, and if the sender starts to get lazy, the slow-movement situation is aggravated.
A couple thoughts:
1. Quit using 10w40 oil, in any proportion. It's the most sludge-prone grade, and is not a good pick. 10w30's good if the engine's in good-to-average mechanical condition, 15w40's good if the engine's in average-to-loose mechanical condition, and if the rings and bearings are in really good shape then 5w30 is a good choice. The thinner the oil, the faster the pressure builds (and the faster the oil gets where it needs to go) on cold startup.
2. It is definitely very possible that the oil cooler is delaying oil pressure buildup, which would kind of counteract the presumable reason for installing the cooler in the first place. It sounds larger than it needs to be.
3. See this post and the links from it.
4. Service the oil pressure relief valve to make sure it's doing its job, as described in these two threads: thread 1, thread 2. It could be stuck partially open, bleeding off oil pressure.
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