Okay here's the major update:
Have not timed it yet. On the radar to do soon.
Have not put in electronic ignition. Own it, and will do soon.
Have not done ballast resister. Ordered, and will do soon.
I did, however, do 5 things I said I would do:
1.) Put on larger 7 blade Ford fan (upgrade from stock 5 blade on my 68). Is like a plane taking off, but I'm cool.
2.) Removed the thermostat completely. Removed that from the equation.
3.) Added 1" spacer. Had factory 1/2". Not sure this was necessary, as my fan now rubs under rare occasions on the fan shroud. I am seeking recommendations on aftermarket fan shroud if you have any. Stock one is a bit ugly, but in solid shape. Running it on there still with 1/4" gap between the blades and the shroud, so when I heavily accelerate and chassis flexes, I get some rubbing (new motor mounts aren't preventing this slight movement - flex is normal I guess)
4.) Replaced the water pump y'all suspected was reverse rotation for serpentine system or similar. I went with edlebrock aluminum high flow.
5.) Went with silicone radiator and bypass hoses. They have spring in lower as well.
So what was the net result? It started up immediately. It is 80-90 degrees daily, so I can't say it was truly a 'cold' start. However, even with thermostat out, it warmed up to 160 or so within 5 minutes in the driveway.
Road testing: In town, never got above 190 in traffic. Then again, never had problems with overheating in traffic. On highway: Drove for roughly 90 minutes - longest test ever - doing over 65 MPH in 4th gear. I may have hit up to 90 MPH for 5-10 minute bursts. The vehicle honestly feels unsafe to me bouncing all over the place at that speed.
The temperature at normal highway speeds up to 70 or so, even under load putting it to 3/4 throttle pedal, did not exceed 195.
When I did some minor grades uphill - 5 minutes or so - and tried to sustain the speed, temperature climbed slowly to 205, then settled back down at 190 on the downgrade, and when it smoothed out it resumed to 195 at 70 MPH or so.
When I tried to speed - passing BMWs in the fast lane - I may have even hit 95 MPH. I tried to sustain driving at 10+ minutes at over 80 MPH, but I didn't have a coat on and it was midnight and I have no hood, doors, roof, etc. I was a moving violation waiting to happen, and the ride was bumpy and rough and I felt like I was a bit out of control. May have hit 100 - not sure. The bronco felt very unsafe, so I slowed down. However, during my high speed run-for-the-border test, it never got over 210.
Hood is still off, but I feel confident putting it back on tomorrow. I have hydraulic hood prop conversion to install.
I think I have solved the overheating problems, however I did not do them one at a time like I had planned. I figured if I have coolant out and thermostat housing off, might as well do fan. And why do fan when you can do spacer? Why get the fan and spacer off, and not paint the upper pulley? Why if radiator is out, not go ahead and do some analysis on the water pump? With that out, why not paint the front of the engine block and timing cover I never painted last time? Why not upgrade water pump while it's out? That's how my logic was. I was like damn, I got it half way done, the garage is a huge mess, I've done this water pump swap before, might as well decommission the bronco for another day or two, so that's what I did. Cost a lot more, got a lot done, and so far zero issues. But I never did find out the root cause, did I. Was it a bad water pump? Don't think so. Factory 5 blade fan not working well enough? Probably not the issue, as I was at highway speeds. Water circulation issue? Possibly - but water pump worked great. Bad thermostat? Who knows - professional, high end thermostat tested it twice right direction hole in it for bubbling air out facing up, etc. By pulling it out completely, it ruled that out. Water can circulate fine. Would the stock/existing water pump work better with the thermostat out? Who knows. Was it the upgrade to the 'racing' style water pump that did the trick? Unsure, but at idle with no thermostat flow frankly looks similar to what the stock one did, perhaps a 10% increase in flow by my eyeballing it.
I will post photos and videos later. Did very interesting test with the 'old' factory (new) water pump I bought a month ago in my utility sink. Hooked up 1/2" drill to it and ran it underwater to watch the amount of turbulence it created in the sink. I knew it was flowing good based on the other video I posted two weeks ago, but how much I have no idea as I don't have a flow meter. Looks like it was working good. I can only reasonably conclude that it was the thermostat, but I don't know. I'm starting not to care, as I had my first successful trip in this damn thing since I bought it and have sunk over $19,000 into something that still looks like a $5,000 bronco.
Thanks for reading this long post. I'd like to hear your feedback.
I was able to pick up some great parts from a local seller including a 7 blade fan so once I clean it up I will install it and the fan spacer and check the water pump part number and remove the thermostat and do a 45 minute drive in 3rd gear down the interstate. 
