Overheating starboard side of engine

[Carl]

Alright - fast forward almost a month from the last issue. I rebuilt the water pump, replaced t-stats, replaced all the parts of the popit valve and pulled the head just to be sure there was no blockage - (there was not). So I put everything back together and tested it in the yard. Everything seems good. I put it in the water today and let it run at the dock - all seems good. Then - I am running around putting it through the paces and I notice the pee stream falls off and not soon after I get the beep of the overheat. I can quickly get the temp down, buy shifting to neutral and reving the engine over 2k rpm (poppit valve opens) the pee stream is really strong and engine cools right down. This goes on about every 10 minutes or so. I can affect the strength of the pee stream by playing with the tilt of the engine.

My question after all this is: Does this seem like a water pick up issue? The engine runs cool as long it is not moving in the water. Now another issue. - I have a 25" lower unit curruntly on my boat which calls for a 20" motor. I have it bolted as high as it can go, but it is still 2 - 2.5 inches too low. Could this be affecting the water pickup? Would a jack plate fix this issue?

Any ideas are appreciated. I have not done much boating and it is already the end of July.

Thanks


Carl