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Just got back from driving and heat intrusion is a LOT lower with the under hood part of the fresh air intake taped off even though I kept recirculate on the whole time. Shutting the AC off during acceleration is now much more tolerable. The vent air still feels somewhat warmer than cabin air when the AC isn't on, but it no longer feels like the heat is on.
One of my next projects will likely be removing the wiper cowl, maybe drilling small holes for additional air intake to compensate for the blocked off underhood portion of the vent, insulating the cowl portion of the firewall, and properly sealing the little gaps around the wiper cowl with foam strips or some other type of sealant material to reduce engine heat intrusion as much as possible.
Actually since I almost always use recirculate in the summer anyways I may try taping off the exterior air inlet also to prevent hot outside air from getting sucked/pushed into the cabin and see if I like the results. About the only time I use fresh air mode in the summer is for the first couple minutes after I get into the hot car when outside air is cooler than the air in the cabin. I would prefer for no outside air to enter with recirculate on while still retaining the option to use outside air mode with the press of a button, but I may be better off just blocking off the exterior inlet entirely during the summer since it likely lets a lot of heat in. If I don't like the result all I lost was a couple minutes of my time and a few cents of tape.
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