... bypass the coolant loop that goes to the throttle body et. al.

 

I've never experienced any icing problems. My car is used as a daily driver year round.

Mike to answer your question: Coolant runs from the head through the intake manifold and into the throttle body which then goes through the Idle Air Control Valve and back into the coolant system. The intent is to prevent frozen throttles in very cold wet climates. I think another use it to keep the expansion rate of the head/intake manifold/t-body due to temperature relatively even in order to reduce stresses on these components. If the head expands because it is 200 degrees and the intake manifold doesn't because it's 20 degrees, the interface will be stressed. I think the heat transferred via conduction should be sufficient to eliminate any hazardous stresses.
Anyway, the typical bypass involves using a rubber hose to divert coolant around the T-body/IACV and back into the coolant system. I used bent stainless steel tubing for the bypass so that I could use as many of the stock hoses and clamps and maintain a neat and clean package - but that's overkill for most. I ran multiple tests and found a consistent intake temperature drop of 20 degrees which should be worth a few percent power increase based on oxygen density alone. It's probably worth much more than that if it keeps the ECU from retarding ignition (the dreaded heat bog).

 

i'm just gonna not mess with it

i've yet to hear about any proven real-world gains