Torx swivels arrived (pricey bits) and I was able to pull the OFH off and wow, that's what 15 years and 182,xxx looks like!
I think/hope that is where the leak was from. Fresh oil can be seen here underneath the intake manifold but was visibly coming down the back of the housing:
The VCG was supposedly done last October by PO, so going with the presumption that is from before he changed it, with a fresh layer on top from the OFHG. Here is the front end which is CRAZY gunked up. I cleaned around the VANOS when I pulled them out, but the rest is pretty much on for life unless I do some sort of power wash thing:
I need to button everything up, refill and check for leaks, but I think I'm about done! There's a 50% chance I confused the VANOS solenoid wiring and accidentally swapped... Probably should have marked that better...
Fingers crossed!