Ok, good idea. Give a boiled down list of what's presently going on, and we can move forward from there and leave the other "stuff" behind.
I don't want to hear any more "He said, I said". I'm not taking sides, it's just an unproductive path to go down.

 

Sorry Ive been gone for a couple days. I ended up having to spontaneously move out of my apartment back to my old house. So that took up my whole weekend.

Well I found the MAIN problem, but I still think there is another problem.

The main problem was that little 3 inch hose going from the water pump to connect the 2 pipes was leaking at the fitting. The guy before me put on a crappy clamp and it was seeping through.
So I got another one. Which I guess was dry rotted and blew up on me..
So I got a brand new hose this time and new clamps.
Now, problem MAINLY solved. Im guessing the next problem is what 2Zs said on the 3rd page about the water pump. Sydney stays at a normal temperature driving around at moderate speeds, maybe 20 degrees above normal without the heat on. When we do city driving however, the temp will go up to the half way mark. Now though, the heat stays blowing, so the little hose was the problem as far as that goes.
Air dam, and not liking to sit, I can see heating up, but it shouldnt be THAT much. The highest it went was a little above the half way mark.
So the blades deteriorating in the water pump makes sense. It isnt pushing enough through at a stand still but driving around is plenty when combined with the air flow.

So, Thoughts?

 

only time i have seen impellers get ate up is when the bearing goes out. electrolysis can eat em up too but i have only seen it on seawater pumps.

 

any other ideas then? maybe the radiator is slightly clogged and isnt letting the coolant flow well enough? The heater core seems fine. Those are the only other 2 things besides the water pump that I havent replaced. Well besides a head gasket but unless that seriously has the tiniest space in it, Sydney isnt giving any signs of that being bad.

luckily it doesnt seem that she will actually overheat, but i rather be comfortable knowing it wont get that hot rather than always worrying.

 

How hot is "that hot", degrees wise? Getting up to 220~230 is normal.

 

well i dont have an actual gauge, so Im going off the thermostat thats in there in comparison to the gauge face. so when i had the 195 in, it was a hair under halfway normally. when i put the 180 in, its right around the 1/4 mark. the gauge face also goes from 160 coldest to 260 warmest. which means the halfway mark should be around 210. so if 220 - 230 is normal, that means normally the gauge can go up to between half and 3/4 and still be fine? im just used to sheila, after I redid the cooling system in her, the temp never went above the 1/4 mark even in city driving.

 

Could be Sheila was lying to you in the other direction, and she was hotter than she let on to be. Damn women!!!!

 

HAHAHAHAHA, WOW! That was great!! So as long as I still have heat and she doesnt go past 3/4, shes fine and theres nothing to worry about?

 

The 3/4 mark is 235. Taking a plus/minus factor into consideration (gauges aren't the most reliable), then you're ok as long as the needle doesn't go much north of 3/4.

 

Ok. Thank you very much. Im just not used to cars being so touchy with their temp and I love my camaros, so I didnt want to risk anything happening to her.