New water pump = instant overheating.

My '86 2.5L xj has been down since June for misc work. I got her going again tonight, with a new water pump, reverted from header back to stock exhaust manifold, etc.
She overheated as soon as the motor heated up (she's never overheated.) So I installed a new thermostat, same issue. The lower hose (should be suction, yes?) heats up first, which seems opposite to me. Then the temp goes through the roof and I have to turn her off (dummy light and my aftermarket gauge both show the rapid rise in temp; it's tapped off of the spare hole in my thermostat housing.)
What gives? Am I missing something really obvious??

BTW, I've long gotten rid of the the fan clutch in lieu of a large electric fan and shroud, which have worked on a manual switch flawless for years.

I just tried a new radiator cap, to no avail.
Again, the lower hose gets real hot, and the top does not. The thermo housing does get hot, however. Real hot. I'm really confused now, and was supposed to be driving this to work in the the morning (like 4 hours from now.)

It sure seems to me like the water pump is running in reverse, however that could even be possible. It appears to be centrifugal, and would pressurize the engine regardless of orientation.
Ideas?

V-belt or serpentine drive? the fan and water pump turn opposite directions with each set-up. Maybe you were sold the incorrect pump????

Suspect wrong rotation water pump...

yup sounds like backwards rotation

Bingo on the rotation of the water pump. I ran across this in 1999.

If you didn't turn the old pump in as a core, pull the new one off and compare the direction the impeller blades are facing. As stated previously, also check to make sure you routed the belt around the pulley the correct way.

One more possibility, this happened to me- same problem, is that you didn't get the cooling system purged of all air and there is an air pocket somewhere.

Bingo, fellas. Wrong pump impeller orientation. The Napa part # stated it was for V-belt. I bought the serpentine model and all is well. Even though my rig is v-belt. Odd.
That wasted several hours of my life, and some hair that I need to keep
Thanks.