You have to have a thermostat or a restrictor plate in the top thermostat housing "the coolant running around quickly enough " and the "old dash light glimmering " are NOT GOOD ! You will never get it to run cool without a radiator cowl in place You will burn up the engine ,Warp valves and blow head gaskets (If your lucky that's all that happens ) Find a mechanic replace the thermostat and hook the heater core back up your probably going to need a new heater core ,Replace the oil filter and change the oil ,Get a new fuel filter , get a new air cleaner and spend a weekend cleaning it all up before winter sets in ...What color smoke is coming out of the tail pipe already ?
1) new heater core !
2) new fuel filter and air filter !
3) oil filter and oil change !
4) find a radiator cowl !
5) Replace those old hoses !
6) clean the engine compartment !!!