Yes and yes Dutch
When I get more 1/2" hose I'll run a little longer loop and hopefully it will not kink. I'd rather run a sring than have a kink. The way the chips on the board are layed out it works well for straight clean hose runs but makes for short bends like that. A longer loop of 3/8 hose keeps out the kinks in the bend but then the hose kinks where it enters the block and the end of the hose barb. Might have to resort to reinforced hose there.
My intent with this whole mess of hose is to keep flow as high as possible through the WW.
I have yet to try series through the rads this way but will as soon as I have enough hose.
I'm a firm believer that there's always a bit more performance left in what you have as long as you tweak the setup right.