Yee-hah!!!!

Damn!!

Well - it appears the front o-rings were the problem. Ran it for 5-10 minutes after filling it up w/o any spewing out the back.
Then, I shut it down and was checking out a couple hose clamp leaks...and PPSSTTTT!! The two left rings gave out AFTER I shut her off.
Now I get to do it all over again - and I get to figure out how to not have that happen again.