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It’s a minefield mate. Do a lot of research and get an idea of what you going to do or you’ll end up like me with two sets of fans. I also made a double 11” set up before I went for 12”. That’s in the loft 😂😂🤣🤣

This is what I had from back in the day: 357 919 369F - sensor for fan - in thermostat housing x 1 357 121 210 - plastic fan cowling x 1 1H0119137A - aux radiator fan belt x 1 171 121 276D - rubber washer for radiator x 2 N 903 059 01 - front bumper mounting bolts x 4 so 357 121 210 is the fan ring, I only needed one at the time - 357 means it's also used on the Passat, and I see some references to Seat Toledo etc.

The slims aren’t massively better but quieter, it’s also that with them being new they should be more reliable. As you know I have a turbo fitted and as such more heat in the bay and a big fat intercooler infront of the radiator doesn’t help either, the fans were coming on a fair bit. I read up on spal fans and their abilities and went for 12” fans the best slim and a very powerful not so slim. This set up really does draw a lot of air when both are on. My cooling is definitely better than before and hopefully because it’s new it won’t matter how often it comes on. If new OE fans were available off the shelf I might have stuck to stock but I think this set up works well for the heat I’ve got to get rid of in slow moving traffic on a hot day. Having said all that my previous Corrado was a stock set up and I never really had problems with that, over 20k miles but I did change the thermostat, housing and sensors early on and the correct coolant with not much water. But these days the fans are nearly 30 years old so it’s a problem you might have to solve one day anyway. My 12” set up when nearly finished. It does fit but that’s about as big as you can go.

It's a good question and to be honest - it's hard to say! I did the fans at the same time as I did the engine rebuild so I haven't got a direct comparison on a fresh engine. They are the same size as the stock fans (11"); you might just be able to squeeze in 12" if you wanted to go bigger. Currently my engine temp sits at about 100 C in slow moving traffic in this weather which is OK I think. To be honest I thought it would be a little bit better than that what with the engine rebuild, but I don't know what would be considered low and high temps; however, I'm sure you'd get this with a stock fans as well. When I first got the car 10 years ago I am sure it ran fairly cool in traffic, around 90-100 (memory might be playing tricks there though!). I'm sure other people could confirm but 100 doesn't seem wildly low or beyond the realms of the OEM ones, but then who knows, if I had stuck with OEM fans I might be getting temps of 110 or so. I did have issues with engine temps sitting in traffic for long periods in the couple of years before I started the rebuild, to the point where the engine would start to run badly, and be on the verge of cutting out. But that was with a tired old engine so not really a good comparison. I also need to do an engine flush as I think deposits have built up in the rad (the old pipes I took off were coated) which won't help, so the fans might be battling against that. For the moment I am a little bit sceptical about whether it was worth it: It was a bloody hassle to sort (although would be a lot easier now I've done it once and got a guide), it's not really that much lighter (if you were thinking of that - about 1kg less), and doesn't seem to be greatly cooler. Think they might be a little bit quieter.