Well, took it to the shop today and the checked to see if there was any charge to it. I was good. Service tech was able to get the compressor to come on by jumping the contact points at the dryer connectors and compressor started and it began to cool down. But as soon as the jumper was released, compressor off and no more cold air. I showed him the location of the relay and the #12 fuse. beyond that, looking at the wiring schematic on Volvowiringdiagrams.com, he was more or less lost and admitted that old a car was beyond his ability. At least I know I can get it to come on. Any way of bypassing the a/c relay like the OD relays on automatics? Any suggestions or directions?

Thanks everyone.