Heater Core Removal/Bypass Question

[Propane350]

So, question for all you fellow gear heads out there:

I'm removing the under hood black box containing my heater core and fan from my '68 C10 to make room for a, larger, custom glove box and instead, using a smaller electric heater and fan set up.

My question is: If I remove the heater hoses and plug off the ports on both the water pump and the intake manifold, will that cause any issues? Or should I just run some heater hose between in the in and out ports, instead of capping them off?

The main reason I ask is, a few years back the heater core went out on my 72, so I just caped off the ports, then a few weeks later my water pump went out.

Just wondering if that was just a fluke, or if stopping the flow maybe raised the pressure in the pump enough to blow the seal? I dunno.

Long story short: I just built the motor and I don't want to start tearing up water pumps for no reason.