So my main question is, am i required to torque down the the nuts and bolts to the intake manifold, or can i just "hand-tighten" them?..

thanks.

 

Although there is a spec and a way to torque every nut and bolt on your car the nuts and bolts to hold on the IM are pretty tight spots to get to. I start all by hand then tighten from the center to the outside similar to the head bolt pattern. Then I douublr check them all for tightness. To answer your ? simply just tighten them down. As I am sure these are not the first nuts/ bolts to tighten use your good judgement and just down tighten them until they break.