I ruminated all winter about this, thinking I should entrust it to a professional, but I've now decided to do it myself. So, I'm canvassing for thoughts, advice, gotchas etc. as I gradually talk myself into it. I've changed plugs on lots of other cars, of course - including the 4.2 engine in my X350 - but it looks really cramped in this car.

I already have the plugs - NGK ILKAR7C10's.

I'll need to obtain a long-ish thin wall 14mm spark plug socket and have a torque wrench to hand. I don't know if there are any length/breadth requirements for the socket that might catch me out. Obviously I don't have access to special tool 303-1450.

I'll need to detach the intercooler coolant hoses to get the coil covers out. Those are the only things the service manual says I need to undo but it looks to me like there's other stuff that will be in the way. I assume these hoses and their connectors will be brittle, reluctant to detach, and liable to break. I assume I'll have to do something afterwards to ensure the intercoolers are full of coolant, not air.

I assume the coil covers are clipped in place in some way - there are no fixings indicated.

I assume the coils will come off the same as the coils on other engines I've messed with.