Well I feel like and idiot. I installed a new temp sensor a few days back; it did NOT show the car to be getting hot. I borrowed an infared temp reader...the car was not hot. I dropped the water level to about 3.25 inches below the filler neck bottom...no more overflow, even after driving 100 MPH. The slow starting when hot is likely a function of the tight/newly rebuilt moter and a rebuilt starter. Will give the engine a few miles to loosen up and see if it's still slow when hot. Thanks for the tips. Pictures of my car are now posted on this site, entry 688.