The 3.0l Vulcan engine had an issue with the throttle body icing up in COLD winters, i.e. below freezing temps all day and all night long
So Ford added "T"s to the two heater hoses, and ran warm coolant thru coolant passages in the throttle body, to keep it warmed up
The "T"s were notorious for cracking and leaking and replacement Ford hoses were expensive
So most just ran regular heater hose deleting the "T"s and coolant flow thru the throttle body
So no its not needed, and some even said it preforms better, but I can't see that happening, lol, but it, for sure, won't run worse without the coolant flow, even in winter