Sounds silly but when you say blowing filters, do you mean blowing out the o-ring or physically exploding the metal? If you have the wrong filter diameter/style on there, the gasket won't line up and will cause blow outs.
Also, if you have a FEL but its disconnected, you need to hook up the hoses correctly so the system bypasses. If you're stuck against the detent, that's bad news too and will cause your tranny to go again.