What a mess! But, hey! You at least tried!
You are going to have to take it all apart again and do it by the book.
You cannot mistake the seal halves as the lower seal with the black carbon ring in it goes in first and then you have to use the correct diameter shim to shim the drain impeller which has a white ceramic or silver metal seal which presses into the rubber of the drain impeller. Make sure if you have the seal with the small "dot" indentations, that you place them facing up into the impeller housing. If you do it wrong, it can leak.
INSPECT BOTH HALVES OF THE SEAL NOW AND MAKE SURE YOU DID NOT CRACK EITHER ONE OF THEM WHICH IS POSSIBLE IN YOUR SCENARIO,
As I have told people on here many times, when you take the pump apart, take special care and notice as to what parts come out in what sequence. This is especially true of the shims.
The rule of thumb is to replace the shims in the same place they came out of and in the same quantity. That way you will have them correct and the drain impeller will seat properly and seal the water from "fine mist" spraying when the motor runs and the wash impeller will clear the pump housing.
Clearance of the wash impeller to the top housing is important so you develop the correct amount of pump discharge pressure, though a few thousandths of an inch is not that big a deal unless you shim it too high which will make it hit the bottom of the top housing or what looks like you did, put it all together and pushed the wash pump impeller all the way down and jammed it on the lower housing.
Roughly, the sequence is: stationary seal in lower housing attached to the motor with at least one shim on the motor shaft to prevent the drain impeller from bottoming out on the housing holding the stationary seal, the small plastic cover, the bottom of the wash pump, secure with the 4 screws, O-ring on the motor shaft, shim(s)above the o-ring, then the wash pump impeller. You have to then install the key washer which must go into the cutout on the impeller and also then align with the motor shaft which is 90 degrees off from the impeller. Then the cap washer with the indent facing down over the shaft, 2 spring washers, one inside the other with the "points" facing up and then tighten the Phillips head screw tightly.
Turn the impeller by hand and check to see if it moves freely.
The impeller should barely if anything show above the top of the housing in which it sits.
Did your WP kit come with a touch/clear gage so you can measure the height of the impeller?
If it all turns okay and the clearance is okay, you can install and tighten the screws of the wash arm support. Once again, try to turn the impeller with your finger to make sure it is all turning freely. If you do it right, it should not leak not jam the motor and burn it out!
I am attaching a scan of the procedure for shimming this machine and it covers only the 15,16, and 17 series machines. The 18, 19,20 is basically the same but the shimming is different and the 21,122 are different yet again and the 23 goes by the whirlpool instructions for their Power Module pump.
You will need to take it all apart and start over with all the shims they gave you plus your original ones. You should be able to make it work right.
If you never did this before, you have a snowball's chance in hell if you just decided to wing it. But at least you tried. This is what we are here for. There is always someone on here that knows just what to do for any given machine so don't be afraid to try and also to ask for help both before and after. I know I try to do that when I am tackling a brand other than what I am familiar with.
Let us know how you make out.
