Welp my pipes came in and everything was going well.
I had bought the one that piggybacks on the inlet (I believe) to the expansion tank as a precaution and am I glad I did.
The original shattered like glass when I was removing it so any small bump could have done her in.
The pipe on the passenger side of the expansion tank that heads into the water crossover on the front of the engine just to the driver's side of the coolant temp sensor had a broken lock that I noticed as I was initially looking the job over so I got one of those as well.
I couldn't figure out why that pipe wasn't leaking but when I was taking the original out to replace it found out that the original pipe had frozen into the crossover.
Of course I found out when I tried to install the new one and when it wouldn't go, looked closer and found the (now) broken off piece securely attached.
I've been picking at this and removed about 1.5 orings as well as some small pieces of plastic but there's still some leftovers that will need to come out.
I'm not looking forward to removing the cross over so that I can set it up in a drill press to machine out the stub but that's obviously an option.
I was wondering if anyone knew how the nipple the basket on the pipe clamps over is attached to the crossover.
Is it threaded or pressed?
There aren't any wrench flats so I think I know the answer but before I try with a vicegrip I thought it would be good to ask here...

 

What you are trying to say exceeds my imaginary horizon.
It would be a good idea, if you would take pictures, mark them up and explain that way, what your problem is...

 

Peter from Oz, good suggestion, I even had one in my phone so I wouldn't have to rely on my 67 year old brain to keep the pipes straight after I disconnected them...
The pipe I was trying to describe is at the top, left of the coolant sensor going into the coolant crossover...

 

This is from a 2002 XJR as it has a metal pressed in pipe. My daughter’s 98’ XJR has molded in aluminum like yours has. I believe only the AJ26S engines have an all aluminum molded one vs the AJ27S with a pressed in one.

 

That's what I was afraid of, with no indication of wrench flats on mine it makes sense it was pressed in place.
Looks like I'll be taking the cross over off so I can set it up on the drill press to clean out the nipple.
Not a big deal since I was planning on changing the coolant at this time anyway.
Funny that this all started with a belt change and the fans and belts will have to come off again.
One step forward, 5 or 6 steps back (at least)!

 

These ladies have surpassed the age and far beyond the estimated life of these
plastic/rubber components. Even the simple and ordinary maintenance actions
can cascade into a mountain of work. It is good you found those things before
they brought it to your attention at a less desirable moment in time.

 

Apologies for leaving this thread hanging.
I was able to clean the left overs out of the nipple on the cross over by gradually increasing the drill size and turning by hand.
The next problem raised its ugly head when I started up to test the new hardware and found the hose closest to the expansion tank (the one I originally snapped at the radiator) was dripping.
The drip seemed to be a poor crimp on the rubber hose section of the pipe, coming out of the 90 degree connector out of the tank.
I got ahold of FCP and they sent out a replacement, which did the same thing.
With two faulty parts I had nothing to lose so I dremeled the offending crimped clamp and replace it with a screw type clamp.
Still dripping!

When I dremeled the clamp I happened to notice the right angle norma connector was very loose in the rubber hose, actually fell out on the floor when the clamp came off.
I'm used to having to push a barbed fitting into a hose against some resistance.
Perhaps these hoses are just marginally too big for the norma connector(?).
I carefully painted some clear RTV on the section of the fitting between the barb and the norma connector, inserted the hose and observed a small amout of RTV queeze out, reapplied the screw clamp, lightly to insure an even spread of RTV and waited a day for things to set up before tightening the clamp again (not too tight, just gooten tight!).
Out for a danger ride this morning and everything seems to be leak free.
I'll be watching the area like a hawk for a few more days before declaring success but so far so good!

 

It’s a good thing that the owners of these cars on this forum like to tinker because by God, these cars need tinkeritious hands on them.

 

You could say that again!
I still haven't come up with a reason that short piece of rubber hose and its accompanying 2 crimped clamps are even weighing these beautiful cats down...might turn out to be one of life's mysteries...