Though somewhat in range, Your fuel psi seems to be a bit to weak by showing to much of an variance range of 31 - 37... Usually the psi swing was more of an lower 3 - 5 psi swing and in some cases going a bit over the 37 range to more of an 38 or 39ish then dropping to the 34ish range when running/just idling with vacuum hose connected...Remove vacuum hose and it goes up 4ish pounds on average. A quick snap of the throttle the psi goes up then right back down once throttle is closed....All testing referenced in the books has you remove the vacuum hose first even for a key one, engine off testing....
With that mentioned, be prepared to eventually buy and install a new fuel regulator soon just to be more on the safe side especially since you're going through the whole fuel system and maybe running a different type of fuel being in AZ.
Also besure to "very" carefully clean the VST filter screen the best you can, Though it may not have looked bad, it wasn't perfect either looking at your photos both here on iboats and your other topic on the other site too.
With the heat you'll be running in AZ, the VST tank system is really susceptible to heavy vapor lock out there.....I'm in CA and have been through vapor lock a few times with these engine models.
While the low pressure electric fuel pump could work out okay with the VST system, this low pressure fuel pump kit was more meant to help feed fuel to the pump in the cool fuel system....So like suggested by AllDodge, may as well stay with a new mechanical fuel pump then recheck your fuel psi parameters so you know what they should be thereafter with each new component as needed.
With the VST type the system, the best way to avoid vapor lock was to redesign the return fuel line by way of returning the fuel to the fuel tank instead of the fuel filter base assembly that comes from factory...The return fuel was taken right from the VST tank to either the fuel tank or a bit easer to the fuel tank fill line with something like this,
http://www.cpperformance.com/products/Fuel_Systems/fuel-return.htm
Though this next image if from a car/truck, the concept is the same as usually diesels use the return to something of this affect,
http://photobucket.com/gallery/user...WwgUHVtcCBJbnN0YWxsL0RTQzAwODA3LmpwZw==/?ref=
Before restarting your engine, be sure to prefill the fuel filter and it's best to run an OEM (Quicksilver) fuel filter which is a white in color filter to help keep the fuel somewhat cooler too.
Hope everything all works out well for you in the end, good luck.:encouragement: