I'm having to replace my intake cause of a bolt breaking off trying to replace the thermostat.

Question is I noticed there is a part attached to the head, right in the middle of where the intake goes, that wasn't attached to the intake. It looks like a water port for the heater and has a sensor coming out of it. Do I need to remove this and clean all the gasket(was a royal pain on the intake, ended up taking with me on vaca and having my brother do it with 3m disks and a rotary air tool) or can I just cut this part of the intake gasket out and not touch it?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

Yes, you can cut the center part of the new gasket. But I would just spend the extra few mins and replace the whole gasket.

You are correct as that part is for cooling, I forget what sensor that is though.