getting close to firing

The drilled hole in the stat is just to help bleed air out during the rad filling procedure. I serves no useful bypass function.Blocking or capping the heater hose circuit is the correct thing to do, if you are not running a heater.
-I kept the heater system as a back-up. If the engine ever got hot, I figured I'd just turn the fan on high and push some air thru that core, sucking heat out that way.Knowing I had the back-up, I restricted the regular bypass quite a bit. IIRC, I shoved a short brass pipe in there, and IMA guessing it cut about 60% of the cross-section out.During the hottest days, I clamp the coolant hoses, so I don't fry my toes, cuz at speed a lot of hot air comes thru that core.
-I don't think it's a good idea to block it completely, cuz that would dead-head the pump, and the heads would get pretty hot real quick. This might lead to localized boiling in the heads, with unknown to me, results. Like water hammer, and cavitation and stuff.
I have aluminum heads, so they really suck the heat out. Once the stat opens, Ima guessing the bypass circuit kinda slows right down.With iron heads, Ima thinking Mopar is way smarter than me, and I would leave the bypass fully functioning.