Rebuilt engine initial fiasco

Joe, you call THIS a "bad morning" ?? Try having something like that happen when you are miles away from home and with NO cell phone signal! You got lucky with that happening at home.
Whenever possible, it is better and more trouble free to use a standard oil filter mount. It only has one gasket and it sits under a thick steel plate. They rarely leak. You might be able to use one if you use a shorter filter. I think one exists that originally fit a 2.2 4 cylinder from an Omni or Horizon.
Plenty of people have had worse stuff happen at tht time of engine break-in. Fuel delivery problems, spark delivery problems, exhaust leaks, oil pressure not building up, noisy lifters or rocker arms....For me, I've had overheating problems and fuel boiling. I've had to do 3 ten minute sessions at 3000 rpms just because it is too hot to run 30 minutes straight.
Good luck...Report back.