Wireless Router and Access Point

[tokyo_networking]

I have a RT-N66U and a RT-AC66U running Merlin's 376.47 firmware. I want to use one as a wired router and the other as an access point. I have a few questions:

(1) I understand that both are using a Broadcom 4706 running at 600MHz. Am I correct to assume that from a performance perspective there is no difference between the two and that the preferred configuration would be to run the RT-N66U as the wired router and the RT-AC66U as the access point?

(2) The routers support AP mode. Does this mean, the WAN port can be used to connect the access point to the wired router? When in AP mode, can the LAN ports be used as switch?

(3) I need to run a VPN connection using the VPN client. My preference would be to set this up on the access point rather the router so that the other LAN ports on the router would not go through the VPN tunnel. However, VPN is not available in AP mode. Is it possible to run VPN on the AP or is it possible to limit VPN to a specific port?

Thanks in advance.

 

[L&LD]

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/bar/74-wan-to-lan

1) The RT-AC66U is the better router and is the one I would be using to connect to the ISP.

2) Yes, the WAN port can be used and the LAN ports are extra switch ports available.

3) Sorry, this I know little about.