So I drove down to Rancho Cucamonga and spent the weekend with Beerjet. We pulled the pump and pulled it apart. Here's what happened.
When I reassembled the pump (first pump ever), I had some of the insulator lip sticking up past the wear ring. I didn't trim that excess off and the impeller ripped pieces of it off, which got caught between the impeller and the wear ring. Those pieces started cutting away at the impeller...then fragments of the impeller were eating away at the impeller as well. Eventually the pump tried to seize up, but the motor torqued it out of it, which we think is what broke the housing.
So we got everything apart and started reassembly. This time, we used a razor blade to trim off the excess insulator lip after the ring was installed. We get everything assembled and check the clearance, which was at about .035". I checked with Tom at JBP and he said that's about where you want it.
So we remounted the bowl. I remember when I originally assembled that pump, it did feel kinda stiff and there was a spot where I could hear a rubbing sound. However this time when we spun it by hand it was much easier to turn and no rubbing whatsoever. So I knew that this time it was gonna work.
Afterwards we gave Topless a call and went to her house and partied. I decided to stay an extra day and we all went to Lake Elsinore for the test drive. She did really well...the pump hooked up really good. I could only get up to about 45mph though cause the water was pretty rough and I wanted to take it easy on a new pump. But everything on the test drive went absolutely well and Topless was impressed with how well the boat rode.
Thanks to all involved...R.A.D.man, Tom at JBP, Beerjet for helping me get this thing done, and 396 and Tom for answering any and all questions I had about this thing. Now I know how to properly assemble a jet pump for in the future.