www.jec.org.uk

Hi there,
Apologies if this has been covered before.
I am thinking of changing my 28 year old oil cooler for a new one, as part of my long-term full rebuild of my 6.0 Coupe.
My factory oil cooler is CCC6981.
I guess I am looking for a definitive answer as to why I could not fit the US CCC6982 narrower oil cooler.
When I eventually finish the car in late 2024 or 2025 I will probably be doing a leisurely 1500 miles a year and not at German autobahn speeds and I have always believed that the UK/EU oil cooler is to suit the driving style over here compared to the US.
Looking at the picture of my car, I can see where the narrower cooler would go, on the right facing (all the holes are there), it already has some air flow restriction due to the receiver/dryer and cross bar, but opens up a better air flow on the left facing with the CCC6982 cooler ,through to the evaporator and radiator.
I am not worried about the oil pipes as I can buy bespoke, racing stainless braided hoses with a degree of re-routing etc.
The second picture you can see the narrower one (upside down of course).
There is a price difference, but I just can not see the disadvantage for UK use.
Please let me know if you have any views on this.
Regards

If you have doubts about the condition of your existing oil cooler, why not simply have it reconditioned? Then, you are not straying from standard and introducing any potential issues for you or a subsequent owner, plus you wouldn't have to face paying the Jaguar price for a new unit. Mike.

Hi Mike,
Thanks for your reply.
Unlike car water radiators that you can get a re-con rad, I wasn’t too sure if it was financially worth a re-con for the oil cooler.
Also I think I might damage the rusted connectors trying to remove it.
I am interested to know, if like what you said, why could there be potential issues.
Luckily, the car is a long-term keeper, so I guess I can path-find and see.
All the best and many thanks.

It's probably too long ago to get a response from a Jaguar engineer of the time about the difference between the US and European specs of oil cooler. Your assumption about long distance high speed usage is possibly correct. It sounds plausible until you realise that some US states didn't subscribe to the otherwise widespread 55mph limits of the time. I'm not sure how Jaguar would or could have differentiated between them. On the other hand, the answer could be much more mundane. Jaguar might have simply had to increase the airflow over the water radiator or the aircon condenser to improve performance in the Death Valley heat tests used by many car manufacturers. Typically, aircon performance has been more important to US than European customers. Mike.