The only reason I mentioned leaving out the thermostat is that some racers who leave out the thermostat will replace them with a washer with a smaller hole in order to slow the flow of the coolant to allow it to cool better. I don't plan to leave out the thermostat. I was asking if maybe the holes in the gasket were smaller than the ports in the block in order to slow the flow of the coolant. Since these ports feed coolant into the heads, maybe they wanted to keep more heat in the heads? Something like they circulated coolant through the base of the throttle bodies to help with emissions? Like I said, Tomei and Cometic use much larger holes at upper and middle locations so it must not be hyper critical. I've read AshZ and MotoIQ articles about cleaning up the central water passage and intend to do this after I finish cleaning the water jacket with vinegar and pop out the freeze plugs.
19:41:16 04/16/17
