After living with the infamous red gasket intake manifold vacuum leak problem for sometime now, I decided to replace it with a new green one. What a "PITA." getting to the bolts. Anyone got any hints to make this easier than brut force removal of everything on the left side of the engine? It looks like I'm going to need to even drain the coolant to remove the thermo housing. I can imagine what a dealer would charge for all this work, wow!

Can't wait for the Battery Electric Vehicles...no intake manifold gaskets.
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'97 Volvo 960 120k miles
'00 Toyota Taco
'71 Datsun 240Z street car
'73 Datsun 240Z Turbo track car

Thought I would give some feedback on this problem:

Problem:
The problem started with a 232 code and a rough idle on a '97 960; the problem was isolated to vacuum leakage around the number 1 number 2 cylinder area by spraying carb cleaner around the gasket at the junction of the manifold and head; and observing how the engine rpm increase and the idle smooth out. I found upon removal there were four of the bolts that were only finger tight...I might have just tightened up the bolts and been done with it but I decided to press on...knowing what I know now, I think I would have removed enough components to reach the nine bolts and tighten them up and see it that fixed the problem because

Fix:
Disconnected the battery and pulled the components along the upper left side of the engine.

Some hints: don't try to remove the manifold using the small rubber ducting these little beauties cost $7 each plus two clamps for each...don't mess with them; there are nine 10mm bolts that hold the intake manifold on and every damn one of them is difficult to get too; I used 1/4" ratchets and accessories to remove them; to keep from dropping these down into the engine area, when I installed each I glued the bolts into the socket and used a flexible connection to get them started; when you remove the old gasket, just separate the manifold from the head enough to let it drop down out of its set.

The old gasket was red and brittle and broke apart; while the new one was green and a lot more flexible; you can feed the new one in by moving the manafold back and down in the front and feed the gasket from the front to the back...make sure it's lined up correctly;

According to Poolman, there is a 13mm bolt near the bottom of the manifold...I never found it because it is completely covered up; but, it does hold the manifold and restricts your movement of the manifold so you must jimmy it around quite a bit to get the old gasket out, the new one in and to alignment the holes for reassembly.

This is a nasty job so you may want to have someone else do it. I guarantee your indie will lose money on this job.

Results:
Poolman is right, the car runs much better and the smooth idle almost makes it all worthwhile.
'97 Volvo 960 122k miles
'00 Toyota Taco
'71 Datsun 240Z mild mod street car
'73 Datsun 240Z wild Turbo track car

Glad it worked out for you and alls well-that new gasket will help the engine run well again esp out on the open highway.
Cheers

A Volvo dealer charged me £186.00p about 3 yrs ago inc. parts

I did the intake manifold on my 740 & it was really easy,,No need to drain any coolant

Car was a 960. More difficult on the white block 6 cylinder engines than on the red blocks.

Post is 11 year old.

The only thing thats going to be the real bear is the nut on the very bottom
part of the intake--it's 13 mm--I bought a short stubby 13 mm wrench to help get at the sucker-you dont have to remove the whole nut to get the intake to pull back--and by that I mean when you get the top bolts off and the bottom nut loose-just pull the intake up and back too you a little and you'll be able to take the old gasket out and install the new one---
On the top bolts-they were a little tight to get but doable-I think I used a swivel on the suckers
Your going to be really happy with what this will do for your car--it really helped the way mine performed--made my son think it was a hot rod--
Hope that Helps

Got the upper bolts out. It was interesting to find that four of the bolts were actually only hand tight...I think someone on the assembly line didn't torque 'em down or they loosened over time through heat cycling. I toyed with the idea of just torquing down the bolts; however, I decided to press on with removing the red gasket... the red material was very brittle and broke apart when I removed it.

Having a problem finding that 13mm bolt which I think is the only thing holding it in. I haven't yet removed the power steering unit or the thermo housing.
Do you remember what you had to remove to feed in the new gasket?

I've had several of my intake manifolds off and never had to remove the thermostat housing or anything having to do with the power steering.

You will use a swivel to get at some of the angles and I think I recall at least one of them could only be removed using a crescent wrench. But it was just sockets, crescents and the nuts and nothing else to remove but all the air hoses.