crochambeau wrote:I also capped the cabin fresh air sends from the cooling intake, thus forcing 100% of the cooling air around the engine. The original design throws a leg of air around the heat exchangers at exhaust for cabin heat, which has a control flap to block - but it also has a branch that just shoots air into the cabin which in my car was not connected... so I had been throwing some cooling away at about the rear wheels.
Update in case anyone has an aircooled VW that has accrued several decades worth of oil and road grime on the aforementioned heat exchangers and is in a similar situation: it is far better to just cap the ~1 inch/~3cm fresh air leg at the elbow, and KEEP the larger (~2 inch/5cm) cooling feed to the heat exchangers intact. Otherwise they may produce alarming amounts of smoke. Plus, cabin heat will still be a thing in the winter months.