As far as gears I went from a 3.08 to a 3.55 in my '93 and was impressed on the change. From a 2.73 I bet you were out right shocked. Back in high school I spent a bunch of money with bolt ons for my '86 with 2.73s. Now that I know what kind of difference gears can make it seems dumb I even bothered with anything else initially.
You are right, gotta know what direction the car is going. I should have put 3.73s in my old high school '86. I thought about 3.73s for my current '93 but it will rarely see the track. That and it will be supercharged down the road.
Either way, 2.73s are just terrible.
Nice - how did you run the hose for that catch can?
Sweet thanks for the information
I did something similar on my ZR1 and wanted to see if it was somehow the same with your setup.
I don't know how your ZR1 is setup, but generally speaking, you will have some sort of vent tube going from the valve covers to the intake manifold or track. I ran a catch can on my 2012 GT as well, and it also worked well.
Any time you can eliminate oil (in this case vapor form) from the intake track, you're helping keep the intake and "top" end of the engine clean. Plus, you're preventing dilution of the fuel.