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Ha, therein lies the problem. This car is a rust bucket underneath the rear end for some reason. Body, floorpans, etc. is beautiful, so is under the front end. But I have a lot of work to do on the back, and a hub replacement will be a real chore. Was hoping I could replace the ABS sensor and do the rest when I'm ready. I already have all the parts to redo nearly the entire front and rear suspension, but with winter approaching, it's going to be a springtime project, so the hub will have to wait till then when I can do it all at the same time. I've going to have to do some welding and strengthening in places due to the amount of rust especially where the rear sway bar / trailing arms attach. It's not too far gone, but I don't want it to get there. Not a daily driver by any means, my plan is to semi restore it and put a 3.8L L67 in it in the not too distant future. I just built a 30x50 workshop with a 2-post lift, so I can finally dedicate some time to this project.

Oh you just have the back hubs to change out. Easy 4 beer job and you have a good opportunity to check everything else in the rear suspension. Do it right and do both sides. IIRC you can get to the rear hubs once you get the brake rotors off, 3 or 4 bolts and you might have to use a hammer to knock it off.

Finally got back to it last Friday. I think it might be the valve covers. The other issue was when I did the valve covers I clean the entire engine compartment really well. What you (LAI) said was in the back of my mind this whole time. What was throwing me for a loop was the side of the block was dry. Long story short, I think the leak was running down the head (1st Pic) to the back (well driver side in the GXP :-)) So I just pulled the valve cover just to look and found it. The mistake I made was not using the blue Felpro. Not sure if the picture shows what I am talking about, but the tab that goes into the slot to hold the gasket is wet. I am starting to think the oil was being pushed up and over. The car has 190,000 so I sure there are some blow by building crankcase pressure. I can't tell, but the tab on the blue Felpro looks a tad longer Also, not sure the round part is a little bit bigger also. Kind of hard to tell, but I think the Flepro blue is 3/64 bigger. I know you are not suppose to use RTV, but I did put a little in the slot, just in case my theory about crank case pressure is pushing it around the tab. I remember back in the day, we had challenge keeping valve cover gaskets on our V8 Champ Dirt. It was dishearten to see that puff of smoke. Although it was nice to confirm it was not a rod making a quick exit. :-)

A little more clean up has been done. I need to order another round of terminals to crimp one of the fan plugs, and some others for the right electrical buss (fuse box), as well as the PCM terminals. I also need to either modify the throttle and cruise cables or get different ones, as they are overall too long (not a big deal), but more importantly, the throttle end is too short to attach properly. Also also, I'm debating retaining the EVAP function. I know I don't have to, but it doesn't hurt to have and helps to avoid having transient gas fumes venting all the time. Thoughts?

This is actually after I've consolidated all the LS4 and Z34 wiring. There are no extra wires left in this picture. It really looks worse than it is. Theres really only a few main bundles to sort through, otherwise the rest are categorized based on component/ sensor, etc. with labels at the PCM end so I can keep track of everything. The foreground bundle is the original Z34 front end harness that has the battery cable, ground cable(s), fan wiring, and any accessories on the drivers side of the engine bay, so it'll be returned back to the bottom of the radiator support. I had to take it apart to rid it of the old 4T65 wiring and some other bits.

I like what you said about "V8 noises". Although smaller engines can be powerful enough and get better fuel economy, there's just something special about the sound of a V8. What are your plans for the exhaust setup?