Because of the thermostat and it's functions, time to warm up the block/ initial warmup times shouldn't matter. The extra thermal mass in the radiator doesn't enter into the equation...
That is likely correct sir.
Were the thermostats and temp gauges the same?
In my case yes since on both rebuilds I used the same part number thermostat and as regards gauges I had the Mk2 16V GTI Motometer clocks in both my Golfs so gauges were the same, sender units were the same, and both gauge sets came off ebay
