A while ago I had a leaking valley hose and replaced every hose. Never liked how close octopus hose was to the cat. I had some leftover wrap from the exhaust down pipes on my LS swap.

 

It looks like you lost a heat shield. It's supposed to have a heat shield at the cat-downpipe flange that, in theory, should keep heat away from the octopus hose. Your car does not have it. It seems that rather frequently, the heat shields are either binned by mechanics or they disintegrate with age.

 

That makes sense. I remember replacing an O2 sensor on a past XJ8 and having to remove the shield. Getting back on was a huge pain. On the XK8 no heat shield either side. On my XJR just driver’s side (US).

 

Looked through all the parts from my swap project and parts car. Two full sets of shields.

 

@giandanielxk8 thanks again for the catch. Passenger side easy. For driver had to remove coolant reservoir. Also disconnecting fuel lines gave room to maneuver the shield in.

 

You’re welcome!

By the way, even with the heat shield, I still worry that the heat in that area cooks and eventually damages the octopus hose, and I bet the same happens to the valley hoses beneath the supercharger.

I bought silicon valley hoses and octopus hose from Swallows-Racing and plan on replacing them in spring break. Mine are not leaking at the moment, but they are like 7 years old now. Since one of my knock sensors died and a new one is currently remotely installed (I know, risky), I’ll take that opportunity to replace the hoses, the sensors, upgrade to the Bosch 010 pump, and a smaller diameter snout pulley.

The silicone hoses seem to be of good quality. I think I counted 6 or 7 plies. I’ll report back when I have them installed.

They should tolerate higher temperatures better than the OE EPDM hoses.