Overheating dilemma....need input.

Here's my problem.
I'm currently running an older griffin aluminum rad with a newer style slant six shroud that I mated to it with a mechanical ridgid blade aftermarket fan....no clutch fan, just blades.
I also have an electric pusher fan for back up on hot days idling in traffic.
It seemed to work well until lately when it started running just a bit over 180 even on cooler days.
Well the other day I was driving it and I smelled rubber burning then noticed my temp started climbing hotter and hotter as I pulled into town in traffic.

I finally made it past a forever light at an intersection and pulled into a parking lot and she was steaming hot and pissed off.

Popped the hood and found my fan belt was gone.
I checked the fan pulley and it spun fine, smooth and bearing did not feel sloppy nor did it make any noise.

I had a spare belt and popped it on.

I noticed my lower hose was much much cooler than my top hose.

Anyways I let it cool for 20 minutes, and did not add any coolant because. I did not lose but about 3 quarts and lived only 1 mile away so I fired it back up and limped home but on my home street it pegged full hot again so I shut it down and coasted into my driveway and parked it for a couple weeks until I could get time to mess with it........so.

Finally I put a new 180 deg stat back in it, and fenangled a spring into the bottom hose just in case mine was collapsing at the middle.

I also found my pusher fan fuse popped, and who knows how long it was popped but I put a new fuse in and the fan ran fine again.....yes I m running a relay and I have it on a toggle switch for very hot day usage only.

I filled my radiator back with new 50/50 mix and fired it up.

Ran fine but seemed to warm up much quicker than usual sitting in my driveway.
While I gave it some rpm it held about 180 but when I let it idle it started climbing towards 195 deg so I switched on my pusher fan and it immediately dropped back to 180 deg on my temp gauge so I burped out the air about three times until it was no longer burping air.

it was doing fine as long as my electric fan was on but once I switched the fan off it would climb hotter even with my mechanical fan and it never did this before, but like I said, it had been creeping a little hotter than usual.

I took it for a short test drive and figured I still have a problem since my mechanical fan won't cool it off.

I pulled back into my driveway, shut it down and checked it out.
I noticed my top and bottom hoses were now hot but the top hose seemed a little hotter....just a little.
I felt my radiator and noticed it was pretty cool to the touch except on the very sides of the rad.

So given all this info, any thoughts?

I'm thinking my radiator is plugged up or my water pump may be toast.

If it turns out to be my radiator I am going to get a completely new set up and get rid of this used griffin that I don't know the history of.

This being said I am open to options on a kick a aluminum rad with a shroud but not sure if I want to go with electric fans/ fan or a mechanical fan, mechanical fan with a clutch but I never liked the idea of my pusher fan hindering my cooling but it was nice on really hot days and saved my butt numerous times.

I also plan on flushing out my cooling system really well.

Any thoughts?

Car is a 67 barracuda 360/ 4 spd manual, sure grip with 3:91 gears running roughly 450 horse with 11.0-1 compression, j heads, Holley single plain, big cam, crappy vacuum.