OK so i shopped around and finally found and purchased a NT water pipe. Cleaned it up all purdy and went to install it, and it isn't even close to fitting. It's short. It needs about another inch to be able to make it into the water pump. It won't make it because the part of it that goes back toward the heater hoses hits the block.
I read so many places that you can just put these on, and their nice because you don't have to block off the extra coolant ports that I'm no longer using. I'm a bit bummed because I bought this thinking it'd help me keep it all nice and clean, and here it doesn't fit.