2001 V70 T5 tuning

[FUBAR]

I was at a merging freeway onramp against an older Eclipse, and it looked stock yet it wasted me by at least 2 car lengths... And I had it floored, what a shame!
My question is for people who have some experience with chips to tell me if I need to upgrade my exhaust manifold with one with thicker flanges or upgrade other stuff to keep the car's reliability the same, and whether the chip increases boost. I am new to auto-tuning, so any and all info on making my ride faster will be much appreciated. I understand that gaskets might crack/leak if pushed to hard from too much boost. I read on some other posts that intakes don't do much for turbo cars. It's hard for me to find stuff on this forum that is for newer V70s (most stuff appears to be S70 and 850) Help me beat the next ricer that comes along!

[matthew1]

Look for "stage 0" in this thread:

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/chat/p ... php?t=6708

If you have the basics done, then a chip and exhaust from a reputable manufacturer are the easiest/fast mods. But they're pricy.