You are right about the oiling to the cylinder walls coming from in part what leaves the rod throws, I should have written that better - what I mean is you could be at 5psi of oil pressure(vs. your mentioned 40psi) and the cylinder walls would still get plenty of lubrication, just as long as you have even a little oil pushing out. Imagine being inside a dishwasher while it's filled with oil, with a wet sump system there is a ton of oil splashing everywhere. End result is any cylinder wall damage came from the other mentioned causes, not because too little oil was reaching the cylinder walls.

Hopefully you will get some concrete answers when your friend looks it over.