Wet sumping, a different approach

I used to own an Aprilia RSV Mille 1000cc V twin.
I used a dry sump system with a separate oil tank. The difference was the positioning of the oil tank at crankcase level. It could only drain into the crankcase until the levels equalised, so no danger of starting without oil.
Maybe worth thinking about when building a "special"

It’s a brave man who experimentally reduces the head of pressure feeding his Norton oil pump.

The rudimentary design of the Norton oil pump is designed to push liquid, not draw it. Design specs indicate gravity feeds the pump.
No offense amigo and I have never tried said setup so my observations are only speculative, but if your modifications are not properly implemented methinks bad things will happen to a bunch of friction bearing surfaces in your engine.

I would rather put up with the relatively minor inconvenience of sumping over time but be reassured I have positive pressure at the pump intake.

It would work if the fill neck on the tank was an inch or so above the crank case, but be way too much work to implement. Besides the gearbox in a Norton is pretty much in the way unless building a ultra long frame special for I don't know what. Land speed or drag racing maybe?

Here comes the almost relevant stuff to ignore: For 45 years I fed the Norton oil pump via a spin-on oil filter which was low behind the gearbox. The filter got gravity fed oil from the oil tank and oddly enough oil was able to get to the oil pump from the oil filter with the oil line having to make one more uphill bend to get to the oil junction block. All oil lines were lower than the bottom of the oil tank. The engine still wet sumped even with the predecessor to the ever popular AMR spring and ball bearing wet sump solution. I switched the spin-on oil filter to the return side a year or two ago when a TTi gearbox installation in my pre-Commando forced me to run the oil lines under the gearbox. Gearbox is almost touching the timing side of the crank case. I also had to turn the oil junction block upside down. Only difference I've noticed is it was much easier to do oil changes with the oil filter on the feed line. I use a ball valve with a ignition cut off switch on it to stop from filling the crank case when the bike sits around for months at a time in the winter. This subject has of course been beaten to death many times. I wanted to get out my old whip one more time.

The Aprillia uses a gerotor not a gear pump so significantly higher volume for the same rpm.