SSDan: As they say, it is all in the details - hope I don't disappoint! A new engine would take the car down for most of the driving year...although I did work up an estimate last night!
One can see where the o-ring was squiggly in the top hole...I recall having a difficult time with it. I was remiss to not lube it up with oil prior to install:
I reassembled temporarily with no supercharger coolant...I did turn the engine over without a sparkplug in #1 to ensure no water present. Installed a fresh plug and fired right up. No issues on warm up and a short drive returned a smooth idle with few misfires (noticed all cylinders do it from time to time). Crossing fingers no damage.
O-ring is also on the way - easily 2+ weeks due to virus/strike. It is part number: 12608997. It is shared with the LSA engine.
In other news, I put a boost gauge on the car and at top rpm I'm seeing 11+ pounds of boost. The German 98 octane isn't quite sufficient it appears with occasional knock registering on the HPTuners in 5th gear. Jannetty recommended Torco octane booster - so will give that a try for those tanks where I'm planning a track visit or topend run. Seems painful, but @ $20 a can, far cheaper than $120+ a tank for Shell Optimax (100 octane which still might not be enough nor available everywhere).
Currently I'm tuned with 13 degrees of advance at WOT...