Not sure how I missed all this, thanks for sharing! Thats an absolutely awesome idea and I'm sure I speak for many on the forum when I say, you should make a thread about it with some pictures! Perhaps in the definitive catch can thread.

No worries on the "thread-jack", absolutely worthwhile discussion :).

Regarding my ring gap issue...leakdown test was abysmal. Cyl 4 was at 40%, and cyl 3 was letting so much air past that it sounded like there were 10 snakes in my block hissing lol. Didn't bother with the other 2 cylinders. The cross hatching being gone in 500 miles should've been a sign. Had a mobile guy come over with a boroscope and he thinks the rings were never de-burred. Whatever the theory, its rebuild time...again. Woo!

I had a similar issue. However it was due to it being my spare horrible janky motor.

Probably not the smartest solution.
But I drilled a hole in my catch can and plumbed it back into the sump. I figured if it's coming from there it can go back. Been like that for years and still alive.

An air pump is a great idea as an alternative to PCV vacuum recirculated back to the IM.
Did a quick google search and these pumps pull air from the intake pipe and pump it into the exhaust manifold. It’s purpose I’m a little stumped on but it’s only pumping fresh air.
Are these pumps ok with pumping oily air and actual liquid oil that escapes the baffles?

Just to get this thread back on track temporarily, I got the block back and gapped the rings.

I went with
.0017" top
.0022" bottom
.0022" oil rings

Edit - forgot to mention, the piston to wall was .040, so on the looser side already. (Thought too tight might've been an issue I was having). No piston slap on cold starts so we're good on that.

Out the box, that was the size of the second ring. I would have liked to be at about .0018-.0019 but seems I will just have to send it. Machine shop thinks it was part dirty assembly, part that the rings never seated initially. It makes sense considering I used VR1 as my break in oil and had issues getting it started, running rich and washing the oil away.

Piston to wall clearance = 0.004" or 0.040" - given no slap - I suspect 0.004"?

Ha, yeah typo! No cold start slaps and it is indeed .004, maybe a hair over