Do you put drill a small hole in your thermostat?

so you have never pulled a hose....even occasionally?

Actually no , I always raise the front of the car floorjack high , the air comes out faster, I`ve even let it set over night raised w/ the cap off .
I made /installed the rear head to thermostat lines on the sbc engines I built , they really helped the air problem , and made the engine run a little cooler too.