that heat soak probably from abuse or riding the clutch. whats a hide a plate, license plate?

Yeah, its a cool little semi-legal mod. I did it so that I don't have to take the time to take the front plate off for shows, or whenever I find a good spot to shoot a photo. Push a button and front plate disappears or reappears. It'* legal as long as the plate is out when the vehicle is being operated (verified with local and state law enforcement).

As for the oil all over, Rear Main was actually dry (replaced anyways). The oil pan gasket looks like the culprit for sure. The pan looks like it got hit and pushed the gasket out the back (I'm hoping that'* all it is) I'll know more when I get the old pan off and can look in.

New oil pan-check, New oil pan gasket-check, New clutch and pressure plate-check, Resurfaced Flywheel-Check, New starter-check, New starter bolts-MIA. I hope I can get this all thrown together by next Wednesday. I'm running out of T-top weather.

Sounds like it is coming together, hope you are able to get in done in time to ride a little before it gets too cold.

Well, it'* been awhile. I got The big leak fixed (I very quickly have learned to hate Lt1'* with their reverse flow cooling system). Took it for a drive around the lake, gauges started freaking out. Battery + terminal on the alternator melted out of the alternator. Lucky it didn't burn the car to the ground. So, this project is parked until April/May. Too busy starting my career and trying to get a house bought lol. Growing up is oh so fun.

well at least that should be the only flaky LT thing, since the opti has been updated.

True that lol. I'm getting pretty good at doing intake gaskets on them. Hopefully the advice I got on the Z28 Board will fix it for awhile. I've got a PCV Valve issue to address too, but that should be an easy fix, other than I'm thinking a compression and leak down test are in order to rule out bad rings or pistons (put a new pcv valve in and started the car. Shot the pcv valve 3 ft away). If the motor does turn out bad, it'* gonna stay parked until I can find a Lq4 to drop in. I noticed I had an extreme amount of oil in the intake when I had it apart. Determined it was all coming out of the PCV Valve.

i am thinking a head gasket could cause excess pressure in the oiling system too, you should be able to determine with the testing you are planing. ls based swaps are pretty common, i wouldnt limit myself to not using the 5.3 or 4.8, they are all about 300hp, use the same parts, and are far cheaper and more common