I am replacing the the valve cover gaskets on my SL. Other than the obvious removal of the air cleaner assy. and sparkplug wires, what else needs to be removed? I was noticing a 3/4 inch diameter plastic hose that sits right up against both valve covers. It's not fuel, it appears some type of air delivery. Do these hoses need to be removed?
I will clean the living daylights out of the top of the engine before I attempt to pull the covers.
Any tips and how to's would be greatly apppreciated.
The car is laid up for a few days while I wait for a new radiator to show up. I figured that while I have radiator out I would change the belts and replace the valve cover gaskets.

Oh another question. How do you move the A/C compressor to get the belt off. I figured everything else out, but I can't for the life of me see any adjustment bolt for the compressor. I did notice the stand alone pulley above and to the left of the compressor but I couldn't lossen it up to get some slack in the belt.
Any tips on this as well would be appreciated.

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1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member

You do not need to remove the two hoses you mentioned in order to get the covers off. Not sure of your setup, but my 380SE has a fuel delivery hose that I had to disconnect to get clearance for the driver's side cover.