Nice to read everything worked out pretty well. Have you got any pics of the mods you did ?

Vantec fans...Again, these are not silent but they are reasonably quiet.

While those Vantec fans are indeed supposed to be Stealth, they are not silent. You can make them a bit more silent though, and you do this by getting rid of the vibrations they cause. A fan that spins vibrates and these vibrations are enhanced through the metal of the case. You can keep this from happening by glueing some rubber on the case and then screwing the fan onto that. The rubber absorbes the vibrations and the noise is gone.
You can actually see this on the third pic I posted earlier in this thread : the brown rubber pries out from between the fan and the case. The rubber I used was some of that self-adhesive stuff that people use on the windows of their houses to keep the draught out. Works very well and easy, becasue it's self adhesive. You also loose NO air movement because it's a nice secure fit.
This is in no way a necessary mod to do, but it's just a thought.

First time I've actually yelped in pain when my finger accidentally hit a case fan.

Ah, you noticed that too ? The edges on those fans are really sharp and can cause some nasty cuts. I also didn't notice that, before it was too late.