Keeping it cool:
I usually drill a 1/8" hole in the thermostat itself to aid in air bleeding / burping during coolant fill. Some say to drill larger, but I like the idea of maintaining the integrity of the 'stat. (and using a 180 stat)
http://www.siliconvalleyoperations.com/thermohole.JPG
--also I usually put in one of those prestone 5/8" coolant tees in the top heater hose line about 12"-18" forward of the firewall to facilitate burping. (OK so it doesnt look 1965..NBD)
-it is also important to note that the SPF heater controls have a block off valve inline with the heater hoses as a part of the heater control unit under dash. this should be open during a coolant fill.
The other (simple) thing to check is making sure none of the coolant hoses themselves have any aggressive bends that are restricting coolant, and if the expansion tank is properly plumbed in.
--after that it gets into engine ignition timing and engine health discussions.
(restarted timing generates heat)
On the water pumps I saw a flow-kooler brand recently and basically they had welded in sheetmetal blades in between the normal impeller fins effectively doubling the number of blades. this may be cool at idle (haha) or 1500 PM, but I wonder when it would start to cavitate at high RPM as opposed to the stock pump, or an edel.
the other way to pinpoint this down would be to grab an IR thermometer and see if there are any hotspots (IE no coolant).
--Steve