It will take a second or two for the oil pressure to build up in the tensioners. If the rattle goes away immediately and doesn't repeat when revving from idle, you should be OK.

 

Did you switch to the shorter bolts on the new tensioners?

Also, observe the belt tensioner with a bright light at cold start...is it vibrating? If so, this could be a bad idler pulley.

 

Spuddyo,
Thanks for the reassurance, the rattle only lasts for a second or so, and does not occur in starts later in the day, it only occurs on cold starts, and is very noticable if it has not been used for several days.

WhiteXXR.
Yes I did install the shorter bolts, and will take a look at the idler pulley.
Thanks for replying.

Regards,
White Bear.

 

I have a 98 XK8, and another poster mentioned getting the gaskets from British Parts UK.

I thought I'd add a couple of cents to that.

After looking around eBay and other parts suppliers I ended up at the British Parts UK site. A little scary because they only quote in pounds and don't indicate specific shipping costs/time.

The advantage of their set is that it includes the valve covers, o rings and bolt rings which no other kits included.

Of course the other main advantage is those are all included at the lowest cost I could find. 41.15 pounds which at current rates appeared to be about $62.

So I decided even if there was a higher exchange rate on my credit card and they charged $30 shipping, it would still come out cheaper than any other alternatives.

Well it turned out they charged 10 pounds or roughly $15 for shipping.

I ordered the tensioners from Sunford in California on Sunday, they arrived Wednesday. I ordered the gaskets that same day from British Parts UK and they arrived Saturday (make sure someone is around you have to sign for them). Invoice total was 51.15 pounds and I looked on my credit card account and the exchange remained reasonable at a total cost of just under $78. You'll be hard pressed to find just the 2 valve cover gaskets on eBay at that cost with shipping.

Now I just have to get in there and do the work

Thanks again to all the earlier posters for the details on how to do the job and various tips.