Well, I left work early and headed over to check out the '88 240 that my wife claimed went up in a cloud of "sturm und drang". We are both teachers at seperate facilities so leaving work early is hard. After reading your posts today at work I was braced for the worst! I drove up and saw the hood popped open but not up. I unlocked it and found the AC compressor a few degrees off, looking quite burnt up with the belt that powered it and the power steering melted in place. My Father-In-Law who accompanied me proclaimed the car a total loss and began to start a diatribe on how he KNEW this car was going to be trouble. We bought this as a third car to allow me to learn how to work on our other two cars without having to bum rides between us. We knew the AC was broken when we bought it this summer. As my Father-In-Law started in I pulled my pocket knife out and cut the belt off. It was not in good shape. Much to his amazement I then jumped in the drivers seat and fired it up..no further problems. We drove it around for a few miles and it seemed to be fine. My wife then drove it 20 miles home from where she works in Miami to our house in Homestead. Of course there is no power steering (no way I can rig that up, can I?) but all I ever wanted out of this Volvo was a car that drove and stopped when I wanted it to. I sort of figured that when that day came...if ever... that I was going to opt to get this car AC'ed I was going to essentially have to gut the system and start out with a rebuilt compressor. My experience with other cars is that AC systems just do not last too much longer than 10 years. Am I correct in that I could now purchase the Volvo conversion from ICP and a rebuilt compressor and be on my way to getting cold air? It would be just a matter or removal of what is there and replacement with the new parts..correct? Anyway no major harm done. My wife is now skittish and tells me she would rather drive my F150 to work...personally I am thinking about getting her a Donkey and cart after she drove the car "miles" to work with smoke pouring out.