Starting another project as if I need it. I figured that 19 years is enough to ask from the coolant hoses beneath the intake manifold so it's time to replace them. I'm writing this as much to preserve my memory as to help others getting into this for the first time. I know that many here can probably do this with their eyes closed, but this is the first time the intake manifold has been removed on this engine and first time I've gotten into this so I want share what I found.
I learned that:
I'm glad I labeled everything. There is too much to remember at reassembly.
The manual could give better details but I fought through it.
I was able to not break any connectors. At times I sprayed them with WD-40 and left it for the next day. All came apart intact.
Harbor Freight sells Long Reach Hose Pliers, set of 3, for $14.99. My biggest mistake is not reaching for these tools sooner. I am using these all the time and they made many parts of this job easier. I use them for hose clamps, vacuum lines, electrical connectors, anything that needs to be pulled or squeezed. The long reach is great. I highly recommend them.
The cheap plastic fuel line disconnect tool kit that I bought years ago from Autozone was needed for the two fuel lines. One of the lines didn't want to come apart the first time (it hasn't moved in 19 years) so I shot it with WD-40 and called it a day. The next day I gently pushed the plastic tool into the connection and it popped right apart.
The injector connectors do not come off one at a time. After disconnecting one entire bank by pulling the little metal clips down on the connectors, all four lift off together with the harness. You can see them just above (outboard of) the white socks in the picture. The metal clips are very similar to what is on the brake fluid reservoir (low level switch?) connector.
If you want to remove the intake manifold, it's worth it to remove the throttle body first, then 90 degree elbow connecting the throttle body to the intake manifold The throttle body requires removing a handful of electrical connectors, some coolant and vacuum hoses, and the throttle cable. It's mounted on top the the intake elbow by four bolts which are easy to access, just don't drop them.
Once the throttle body is removed, the bottom center bolt attaching the intake elbow to the intake manifold is easy to access. Otherwise it's about impossible. The rest of the bolts are easy with the throttle body removed too. You can see the bolt pattern in the picture of the back side of the intake manifold.
I need access to work on the octopus hose so I'm not going to leave the throttle body and remove just the intake manifold and elbow because the throttle body would be in my way.
Also, I plan on assembling the intake manifold, elbow, and throttle body then installing them on the engine as one unit.
I believe that I will have a good chance of avoiding air leaks this way.
From what I can see so far I have not discovered any problems so I just hope it stays that way.
I took a quick look at the intake valves (two per cylinder) and they're smaller than I expected, but there are two per cylinder so...
A couple socks are keeping debris out of the heads.


What you're looking at is the first time this engine has had these components removed. You can see the two coolant hoses that run through the valley and the octopus hose is behind the engine, with more access problems sure to come as I change it.

Back side of the intake manifold. The 90 degree elbow bolts up to this and the throttle body sits on top of the elbow. The bottom center bolt is about impossible with the throttle body installed, no big deal with the throttle body removed.

 

Good luck and keep us posted....

 

I did a little cleaning today and here's a picture of the elbow between the throttle body and the intake manifold. In this picture you can see where all the bolts are located.

This picture includes the black metal gasket that sits between the elbow and the throttle body.

No gasket in this picture.

 

This is making me cringe. When I first bought my '97 XK8 in 2008, I immediately had to replace the CCTs, water pump, water tower, and a host of other things I just decided to upgrade (brakes, shocks, etc.). But after I was done, I thought about those under-manifold hoses. I have put another 30,000 miles on her with no issues from that system, BUT.....I know it could be a problem if they ever started leaking. If I drove the car a lot I'd have someone pull it apart and replace them (I cannot do it anymore with arthritis). Now, I only take it out on moderate days once in awhile. New tires are going to waste. No more 2000 mile trips.

I wonder if sitting with occasional starts is worse than driving and fully using these systems...

 

Sitting for long periods of time is indeed worse. These vehicles are much better off when they are driven regularly. My wife no longer drives her 2006 XK8 so I am the one who must take it out for exercise every week....

 

The hardest part of this is keeping track of everything as you disconnect it.
I agree that regular exercise is good for the car, as well as being garaged.
I decided to replace the coolant hoses strictly because of their age and I'm pleased with what I found. I haven't seen any evidence of leaks yet but I'm going to do a thorough inspection for anything that needs to be addressed while I've got the intake manifold and throttle body off. Then I'm going to replace any hoses that I now have access to so that I don't have to do this again for a very long time.

 

I'm doing this job to replace the coolant hoses under the intake manifold and any other hoses that I can now access such as the octopus hose because of age, no other reason.
At the same time, I'm trying to solve two problems, one is an oil leak as evidenced by puddles on the cardboard under the car, and also the smoke that seems to waft up from the catalytic converters (both of them) as soon as they warm up when I start the car. The smoke and oil leaking problems both appeared a while after I did the timing chains a year and a half ago and they probably appeared at the same time so maybe they are one problem, not two. I haven't put many miles on the car since then, maybe a thousand or two.
I jacked the car up yesterday anticipating that I might need access from below to replace some coolant hoses and to have a look around. The timing cover looks great, clean and no leaks.
While I was under the car I saw that the catalytic converters were wet with what looked like oil and there was a bit of oil at various places on the bottom of the engine.
Then I saw it. Oil dripping from the right side back corner of the engine. I didn't expect to find an active leak but there it was, and I'm kind of glad. It takes a lot of guesswork out of the equation. Consider that this engine hasn't been run in a couple of weeks or so and the oil leak is active from high on the engine. The oil was clean and the area of the leak on the engine was clean so this leak is new and probably from when I removed the cam covers for the timing chain project. I'm not 100% sure this is the problem until I dig into it, but it looks pretty likely.
It makes sense in every way except I don't understand why it happened. Whatever I did to one cam cover I did to both. I cleaned the cam covers, replaced all the seals, torqued the bolts in sequence. I basically followed the manual to the letter. I'm planning to retorque the cam cover bolts and see what that does. At least I know exactly where to look for a leak, on the right side at least, to determine if the leak stops or I need to go further and remove/reinstall the cam covers and maybe put a little bit of RTV on the seals. I'm assuming for now that whatever is going on with the right side is probably also happening on the left.
I do remembering not being totally in love with the fact that I had to install the cam covers with all those seals in the bottom of the cam cover, praying that they stayed in place during assembly. I was as careful as I could possible be when installing them.
Has anyone out there had an issue with cam covers leaking oil?