Hi all. I have managed to keep my failing / splitting plenum alive for a year or so with Araldite. But the time came for replacement. I hit an issue and wondered if anyone could enlighten. Just behind the throttle body there is a steel plate which fixes the plenum to the engine by four bolts 10mill. I got everything else off in about 20 minutes. Then I turned to the 4 studs. The nuts came off easy enough. But the plenum was still held by what looked like 4 round nuts which were under the nuts just removed.

I managed to get them all out by using two nuts locked together, it took about 1.5 hrs and involved some olympic standard swearing . The studs to me look as if they sould have been fitted to the engine first, turned in until the round bits were firm, and then the plenum slotted onto / over them followed by a nut. Thus allowing simple removal.

Am I right? The workshop manual doesnt seem to offer an exploded diagram. ----------------
2010 RR tdv8 3.6 ( gone but not forgotten ...)
2012 RR tdv8 4.4
2004 RR 4.4 V8 (M62) -gone but not forgotten (sob)
1998 P38 RR - least said the better
2009 BMW 7 Series 3.0d
Various motor cycles - BMW GS
1998 Jag XKr 4.0 V8

Having just replaced the oil cooler gaskets on New Years Day, removal of the inlet plenum was the first part of the job and I have to say it was a lot easier than you describe.

To be clear, we are talking about the large black plastic chamber with the four rubber tubes joining to the inlet manifold, the oil filter housing in the middle and the throttle body at the front?

What you have decribed sounds like MUCH more trouble than I had removing it. The four rubber tubes need to be loosened and pushed inwards. The four bolts securing the chamber (2 each side) are removed and the intercoololer pipe is removed. The pipe on the lower left is disconnected (2 bolts) and the electrical connector on the front right is disconnected. That's about it!! The throttle body comes off with the chamber.

Hi . Thanks for the info. Glad yours was snafu free I take it you had no issues with those four studs / bolts ?

Cheers ----------------
2010 RR tdv8 3.6 ( gone but not forgotten ...)
2012 RR tdv8 4.4
2004 RR 4.4 V8 (M62) -gone but not forgotten (sob)
1998 P38 RR - least said the better
2009 BMW 7 Series 3.0d
Various motor cycles - BMW GS
1998 Jag XKr 4.0 V8

I never removed the metal throttle body from the plastic....  The older I get, the more I realise that people confuse wrinkles for wisdom

cheers ----------------
2010 RR tdv8 3.6 ( gone but not forgotten ...)
2012 RR tdv8 4.4
2004 RR 4.4 V8 (M62) -gone but not forgotten (sob)
1998 P38 RR - least said the better
2009 BMW 7 Series 3.0d
Various motor cycles - BMW GS
1998 Jag XKr 4.0 V8

Hi all. The studs are shown here as HT1. There are 4. Cheers

Click image to enlarge

I think the studs you're talking about are the two which secure the long black plastic 'blobs' which hold the front of the engine cover. They have inverted Torx heads on them, but I actually used a std 4mm socket (1/4") to get them off and they weren't particularly tight - circa 10Nm.

Check out the wiki page for the oil cooler gasket as it has a great detailed set of instructions about removing the plenum at the start of the job.

https://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic48745-15.html The older I get, the more I realise that people confuse wrinkles for wisdom

Cheers once again. Those torx ended studs are the issue . But no longer  ----------------
2010 RR tdv8 3.6 ( gone but not forgotten ...)
2012 RR tdv8 4.4
2004 RR 4.4 V8 (M62) -gone but not forgotten (sob)
1998 P38 RR - least said the better
2009 BMW 7 Series 3.0d
Various motor cycles - BMW GS
1998 Jag XKr 4.0 V8

Ive just done this, I undid the screws/bolts underneath that bracket that's held on by the studs, X3 10mm going up into the plenum.