How important is the Aux Thermostat?

[hownnq]

PO removed the aux thermostat (senses air temp and warms the throttle body) so he could put in a water temp gauge (instrument panel works fine, even if it doesn't have a scale) . Rather than buying a replacement thermostat I think I will just plug the outlet from the head and the return at the lower coolant header.
Can anyone think why this might be a bad idea? It has to be better than running hot water unrestricted through the throttle body

[Jack Dabsy]

Would take slightly longer to warm up, that's all ;-)