Everything is cleaned up and back together and after letting the silicone dry gave it a test fire. Everything is much better except the missing front stud and rear bolt. Also looks like an alligator gnawed on the side of the lower unit I was using the pickle fork on. Guess I'm going to the Merc dealer and see if I can get a new front stud and rear bolt. Got much colder temp on the hose than before. Thermostats still open and close real strange on the hose. Sometimes there's a pause between the blasts of water coming out the telltale. Heads feel warm, but not hot, both are equal. No water coming out anywhere else it shouldn't. A quick rev up to 3000 gets a little water out the exhaust, but not much. After shutdown and 1 minute wait, the telltale comes back almost right away. Before there was a long wait for water.
Does this sound like cooling system operation? Seems to even run a little smoother now. I even hooked the idle stabalizer back up for fun and even seems a little smoother when it gets real slow almost ready to die after starting it. Maybe this will stop me having to rev it up first to warm it up before it will idle.
Here's to everyone who helped me out with advice. Thank you.