Quote Originally Posted by Cool Cat Racing
How is your air routed to the radiator? If you have plenty of space for the air to go around the radiator it will rather than go through it. And for everyone saying the pump will change your pressure you're wrong, the heat in the system makes the water expand which is what causes the total pressure, the pump has nothing to do with it. The only difference is when it will begin to cavatate. They slowed the Vtec pumps down to keep the pumps from cavatating at higher RPMs which will lower coolant flow, same reason you need to underdrive water pumps on race cars that see mostly high RPMs.
This is the most intelligent post I've seen in a while.

I don't know about the Honda engines, but I know that some manufacturers completely re-rout the coolant flow when the thermostat opens. Removing the thermostat altogether wouldn't direct the coolant through the system properly. Also, try flushing the coolant system with a commercial flushing agent. There could be a significant blockage in there somewhere.