Couple of things here... First, if someone removed the shroud to cool more of the engine then they didn't know what the heck they were doing. The cooling system was designed in such a way that the shroud guides airflow through the radiator rather than allowing it to be wasted going around it. Removing the shroud reduces the heat transfer ability of the radiator, resulting in more heat buildup within your engine.
Removing it was self-defeating in other words. It allows airflow that is supposed to go through the radiator and pull heat from the coolant to take a path of less resistance and go around the radiator which accomplishes little or nothing to cool your engine. A missing engine splash guard will do the same thing, keep your cooling system from operating as effectively as it was designed to.
Your upper radiator hose is supposed to be hotter than the lower one as it's the return line from the engine. The lower hose feeds the engine coolant that's already circulated through and been cooled by the radiator, the upper hose returns the heated coolant back to the radiator to go through the cooling cycle again.
You can test your water pump by disconnecting the upper radiator hose from the rad and with the thermostat out or at least open see if it water flows out forcefully.
Your radiator may need a good cleaning if it's an older one and/or is really gummed up with old coolant, rust, etc. Might want to take it out and (if it's a stock one) disassemble it and clean it up good. If it's not stock, take it to a shop to have them clean it if you have doubts about it.
So, with all this in mind, what does your temp gauge have to say on the subject? Is it indicating that you're overheating, or are you relying on how hot the engine bay feels to you? Needless to say the former is a far more important and accurate indicator of how hot your engine is really getting. If it's a good operable gauge, with a good sensor, then I'd go with what it says about your actual operating temps and not worry about how it "feels" to you.
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