Hey saw you hadn't had a response yet, so I'll give it a go.
1. Improve your kick, train more, if you can't get to a pool more often develop a good swimming focused dryland routine, try and work with a private coach at least once a month (shouldn't be too pricey).
2. Set yourself up with sets. They're all over the internet. Rather than just swimming until you can't swim anymore, perhaps swim 10x100's on the 2:00. How this works is you leave ever 2:00 to start the next 100. So if it's 4:45:00 when you start your first 100, then start the second at 4:47:00, third at 4:49:00, etc. etc. etc. Typically, pools will have pace clocks to use, and the hours and minutes are not usually important. Focus on the seconds. Ideally, at your level, 15 seconds rest is good. You can vary between rest intervals (rest 15 seconds after each 100) and time intervals (the aforementioned part), but rest intervals usually give you an excuse to be lazy. If you need help figuring out an interval, post here again, and I'll write an article about it for my site and send you the link.
3. Well, yes, but as long as you're eating healthy, the swimming should contribute to this. I wouldn't be too worried about your weight affecting performance at this point. If you are concerned about your weight, just up the number of days you train!
4. It has to do with how many kicks you take on each stroke. Generally, you kick at a higher "beat" aka faster for shorter distances. Really not that important until you get to the more elite levels.
5. That's one heck of a question. It's really hard to say, as even in the few years since Thorpe was in his prime, training has changed enormously. All else equal, I'd say Thorpe. But I also think that Phelps has the ability to train harder than Thorpe can under the same circumstances, so my real answer is Phelps.
Hope this helps!
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