Yes the filter is pretty filthy, given the car gets short tripped most of the time I'm hoping that might be the reason for the moisture, hopefully not the head gasket...
The solids are presumably being loosened up from within the engine so the filter is doing its job in that sense. The previous couple of filters were nowhere near that bad so having had a few doses of fresh oil over the last 10000km must be what's freeing up all that mess.
The 15w40 Delvac is for a couple of reasons. I was interested to try an HDEO since things were a bit mucky under the valve cover (also have a corolla which is not quite so mucky but is also on Delvac), and am curious to see how much/quickly it cleans the engine up. The Nulon 5w30 that was in it has obviously started to do that already, but there was a good special going on Delvac through a friend so I bought that too. I'm also curious if the slightly thicker oil will make any difference to the oil consumption (which is quite low but consistent) so we'll see what happens. Let's call it a bit of a science experiment.
I notice that a quick look at the oil retailer I usually use here in New Zealand (Supercheap auto) shows only 1 0w40 oil, and no other 0w/anything so I suspect our climate here not getting much colder than -10c pretty much anywhere means less of the thinner oils are used here, and while 15w40 may be thick by Canada/Europe/Northern US standards it's closer to middle of the road over here. Certainly my cars rarely see lower than -5c, and even that is only a very few times per winter. A friend with a late 90s Corolla (4afe) uses a 20w60 as his engine oil but that is a bit thicker than I had considered using!
I've got some valve stem seals ordered for the Starlet as I doubt they have ever been changed. Opinion on the internet varies as to whether lightly worn vss's will produce any smoke (vs the cat hiding it) and I don't know any better but they certainly won't be fresh so will change them.