you're right about not being able to dispel the "myth", but that probably has to do with thermodynamics, maybe you have a degree in physics? .... early IC engines cooled by thermo-syphon and convection, or air cooling, and don't bear much resemblance to more modern machines, which have systems based on a lot of engineering to overcome the drawbacks of early ICE's

while it may be that removing the thermostat will "almost never cause overheating", I'll stand by saying removing the thermostat will never cure overheating, except possibly if the thermostat is defective, and there's easy ways to diagnose that without risking overheating internal areas of the engine

Bill

Moved over to the Passing Lane

"When we tug a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world" ~ John Muir
"When we tug a single thing on an old truck, we find it falls off" ~ me
Some TF series details & TF heater pics