By-pass hose?
Sure, cap it off, an even COOLER gulp of cold coolant coming from the radiator on a hot engine after a pass HAS to be good............
Just use the bypass hose, there are arguments as to why you can plug it, and yes, you can, but it relieves some of the cold coolant shock when the Tstat opens, because it is constantly circulating through the whole engine, just bypassing the Rad.
Run your bypass.