hi oldkimmer...
i don't know what to think about the "thermostat, no thermostat" debate. i know years ago, i ran several cars with no thermostats when they had overheating problems. but the more research i do on this topic, the more complicated it seems. because there are so many other variables that can cause overheating, it's hard to say what effect removing a thermostat has on a particular car without knowing all the other stuff going on. for example, i had a number of mopars years ago, but i also went through a period of owning Corvettes. i bought a 65 roadster off of a guy at a great price because he told me it ran hot and he couldn't figure out why. it was a 327 (365 hp) 4 speed. i tried new thermostats, no thermostats, flushed the radiator, even drove it with the hood popped open (65 Corvette hoods open backwards). nothing helped. then i ran into an old Chevy mechanic and he told me that some Corvettes had problems with warped heads. he said a warped head would cause overheating. to make a long story short, that was the problem. when i swaped heads on the car the overheating issue went away.
so i guess it's just too simple of an answer to say take out the thermostat if your car is overheating. sometimes it might work, sometimes it won't.
