I am considering buying a 99 silver c70 with only 52000 miles. It was a lease car and it is immaculate. The only problem I have is that it is the 2.4L LPT and I am kind of hesitant. I need to know if getting a boost gauge and an electronic boost controller (such as a blitz SBCid, etc) to push the boost to around 9 psi, if this would be detrimental to the 2.4L LPT motor. I know there are several differences in components between the 2 motors, and that the 2.3L has thicker cylinder walls, and better injectors, this may be the problem I run into. I don't want 300 horses or anything, just a little more zip out of the 190 horse stock LPT motor setup. Let me know whats up, and if anyone knows exactly what the differences between the two motors are please shed the light. THanks.

The nice thing about a chipped LPT vs. a stock HPT is that the torque and HP are available at a much more usable (lower) RPM range. If you had a HPT with manual trans, you might barely outrun a chipped LPT, but if the car is an automatic, I bet the chipped LPT will outrun the HPT every time.
I have put over 80k miles on my car since I put in the Wetterauer chip (230 HP, 254 ft-lbs) and have been thrilled with the upgrade. From what I understand, the ipd ECU has comparable power, and no need to have any soldering done on your ECU. If I were to do it again, I'd go for the ipd ECU since I never swap back in the stock chip, which is the one advantage of the Wetterauer. At the time, my car was still under warranty, which is why I went the Wetterauer route.

Gordon
--
86 240 DL 120K; 98 V70 XC 125K(Bilsteins, ipd strut tower brace & sway bars, Wetterauer chip)

I have a 2000 S70 LPT with the IPD ECU and Exhaust. I'm extremely happy with it. It is a nice amount of power. I'm not sure how much more power could even be put to the ground effectively. I've been running this for 2 years/12,000 miles without problem. If you look at IPD's published performance numbers, this should have no problem outrunning a stock HPT and a chipped HPT is only slightly faster to 60 due to trouble putting the power to the ground.

When I bought my car new in 2000, there were plenty of LPTs available (in GLT SE form), but the HPTs were few and far between. In fact, I was only able to locate one at the time and the price was $6K more than the LPT. That's why I took this route.

To be honest, had an HPT been available at the right price, I would for sure have gone for it. And I would have IPDed that one too!

TME in Sweden has much experience with boosting the performance of
Volvo turbo engines. Their stuff is sold in North America by IPD.
Expect to spend at least $900 to use their ECU updates. See:

www.tme.com
www.ipdusa.com

Ok, just checked IPDs latest printed catalog. ECU update for a 99
is $995. $658 for the exhaust (optional, but recommended with the
increase boost). It runs 12 lbs boost. 230hp and 275 lb/ft torque.
Deduct 10% if you don't get the exhaust. You have to ship them your
ECU and it takes 3 days to turn it around.

Note the HPT was about $1000 extra when the cars are new. A darn
good deal from Volvo I'd say.

The HPT has forged pistons and crank, sodium filled valves, thicker
cylinder walls and some other changes. TME and IPD are well respected
and if they think the LPT can take the extra load then I think you
are safe to go with it.