Relax... don't worry... be happy.... breathe sllooowwww... ddeeeeeppp...

..

Don't sweat it. I felt exactly the same way when I renovated my first 240 two years ago. Up until then, I had done my own oil, filter, plugs, basic tuneups, and eventually one or two brake jobs and some suspension work out of fiscal necessity on a Range Rover and a few other cars. I lived through the experiences, learned a lot, and figured it was time to dive in. My first 240 needed a new exhaust and intake manifold gaskets, among a host of other things. I read the Bentley, and almost gave up.. looked so complicated. Well, it ain't. The Bentley makes easy stuff sound impossible, and very difficult stuff sound easy. It's not wrong (usually), but it's not necessarily 100% right about everything either.

You do NOT, repeat, DO NOT, need to empty the coolant prior to removing the intake manifold. I'm not sure why the Bentley says you do.. maybe someone else with more knowledge than I can clear that up.. perhaps, since the Bentley's contain a lot of "standard procedure" elements for all cars, that draining the coolant is necessary on some other cars. I don't know. I do know that you DO NOT HAVE TO DRAIN THE COOLANT on a 240. There... :)... feel better? .

Seriously.. removing the intake manifold is a piece of cake. Usually none of those bolts are frozen or locked up, and it's a fun easy job that makes you feel like a real mechanic. Follow the Bentley steps, label wires and hoses as you remove them, take notes and pictures.. don't be afraid to be obsessive about that. Too many notes are way better than not enough. On the other hand, most of the stuff goes back together fairly obviously.

Basically, going from memory, you'll need to disconnect the throttle linkage (although I think some folks even skip that), remove the throttle body (you'll want to give that a good cleaning.. make sure to get a new gasket when you order your manifold gasket, too), unhook a bunch of vacuum hoses, including the big ol' hose going to the AMM, remove the few ground wires at the fuel rail, pop off the electrical connections to the injectors and push/pull them underneath the manifold, remove the manifold nuts, and gently remove it.. they usually come of easy. No need to remove or mess w/ any of the fuel fittings.. just carefully maneuver the manifold over to the passenger side of the engine bay. While you have it off, I'd suggest cleaning or replacing the oil breather box and flame trap. The breather box, especially, is much easier to do w/ the manifold off. Cheap parts, and cheap insurance for a better running engine for a longer time.. keep those internal pressures low so you don't blow your shaft seals.

That's going from memory.. I may have left something off or put something in the wrong sequence, but it is NOT difficult. I did mine w/ no one over my shoulder (except the Bentley and this board), and it went swimmingly. Easiest, most rewarding backyard mechanic job I've ever done.

Enjoy.

Barry