You might want to think about replacing the glow plugs while your doing this if they've not been done before. It not much extra cost and it saves removing the manifold again.

Yes i think i will..

Just bought a manifold of a jaguar xf non swirl.. I'll get some ngk glow plugs once it arrives. Is carb cleaner and gunk safe to clean the plastic manifold??

From my experience you'll need to start with a trowel. 
Hung like Einstein, smart as a horse.

Hmm! I'm planning on letting it sit in a bath of carb cleaner for a night or two.

Is the manifold quite straight forward to remove? Can't seem to find any guides.. not even ford forums..

I started with Gunk but soon decided that I need far more than I had so switched to white spirit.

Search on here for "glow plug" there's some good guides to how to remove the manifold also the Freelander 2 Repair Manual pdf can be downloaded that has all the steps.

Yes, I think I'll be leaving it submerged for at least a day or two in something suitable! I hope this will be worth the effort.. i'd like to see a little more mpg too! Haha! Fingers crossed!

My jaguar xf non swirl manifold has just arrived.. very happy! Looks like it's come off a very low mileage engine with only a very light coating of oil mist inside. No build up whatsoever! Bargain at only £40 delivered!

Dervy wrote:

Hmm! I'm planning on letting it sit in a bath of carb cleaner for a night or two.

Is the manifold quite straightforward to remove? Can't seem to find any guides.. not even ford forums..

Well! I've just finished swapping the manifolds and glow plugs.
You guys weren't exaggerating.. very awkward!
I also replaced the throttle body boost hose with a silicone one and deleted and blanked the egr cross over pipe from both ends.

Surprisingly, my old manifold didn't look too bad. No major buildup and all 4 swirl flaps were still present. Regardless, this was a future proofing project so I'm happy I've gone to the trouble. Next step is an eco remap...