Looks like it was cross threaded. New one should spin on very easily until it contacts the shoulder. Just snug it up, normal rotation will keep it tight.

 

I made some progress last night:



As I'm going along I'm trying to watch for any "might as well" fixes, a few things caught my eye:

This connector looks like its been soaked pretty good, would it still be ok? I had a CPS fail that I believe was from oil/sludge seeping down.


I also noticed a good bit of build-up on the intake manifold? Or is this between the intake manifold and the valley pan? Its just above where the water pump was. I was just worried that something else above my water pump may be leaking?


And finally this braided hose from the valve cover to the intake manifold appears soaked in oil and has started to fray:

 

I'm not sure if the build up between the intake manifold and the valley pan is from a leak, or oil/coolant blowback from the fan?

I got to poking around this morning and noticed that a good bit of gunk has accumulated behind the PAS pump. Would this have come from the front cover leaking?

I'm just trying to make sure that replacing my water pump gasket and front cover gasket (valve covers were done about 10k ago) should clean up most of my leaks.

Any opinions?