Wow this forum is great! Thanks for the quick response.

coolant issue sounds normal. the cluster gauge is worth less. you need to scan the temp via the obd2 port with the torque app or some thing of the likes to know what its really reading.

the coolant smell tho. you need to look into that. water pump can leak, the plastic elbows can leak as well, the heater hoses to the fire wall can leak too.

if you smell it in the car, then the heater core is likely leaking.
I'll check the elbows and hoses tonight... I don't think the temp gauge reads accurately, but in the conditions I mentioned, it was definitely rising with no indication of leveling off, and the engine was definitely getting too hot (boiling coolant). Neither my 05 corolla or my 95 F150 get so hot running the same road. I'm going to go ahead and pull the water pump and check the fins too.

if you look at the lim bolts, they are in a deep well, if those bolts are covered in black fluid. its time to do the lim gaskets, thats coolant thats seeped up the threads of the lim bolts.

one of my out side edge bolts under the egr, it used cry when the engine was al warmed up. left a nice trail.
I'll check that and the gaskets between the heads and the LIM too...

Honestly, if I can determine that the cooling issue is from the LIM gasket, its a non-issue for me, because ultimately my intention with this car was to build it a bit. If I do, I will inevitably have the LIM off at some point anyway. But before I launch into all that I really want to get everything running well, or at least be sure the engine is healthy and worth upgrading... If not, I want to sell it and get another one. If I can get it running and cooling flawlessly, and when I have the spare cash, I'm thinking higher ratio rocker arms, new lifters, tune-in-a-box PCM, 3.5in pulley and downpipe. So to do the lifters I would have to pull the LIM anyway... even if I left the stock lifters in, I might as well pull the LIM when I do the rocker arms... So, assuming the compression looks good tonight, if I could be pretty dang confident the issue is the LIM, I would go ahead and buy all the parts for my mods (when I can afford them), and just take care of it while modding. Any reasons why my plan my be stupid?