GL;

Welcome to the forum...a name or handle would be nice...

I agree with other posters...

Your SBox likely needs a seal and an adjustment, and you quite probably might need a second opinion from a REAL mechanic...that is, one who can actually dissassemble the box and install a new seal instead of wanting to install a "professionally rebuilt" one. "Mechanics" like the one who condemmed you SBox are not mechanics, they're component swappers...and they really pi** me off...they think all solutions come out of an expensive box (when in your case it will likely be in a $10 baggie - plus about 3 or 4 hours labor...OK...maybe even longer on the learn as you go plan)...well it doesn't work that way with vintage vehicles...in the first place, a new steering box is about a kilobuck last I heard (if available at all), so you may only be able to get a used replacement one...and guess what you'll want to do before you install it...that's right: install a new seal!...and what would your non-friend the "mechanic" likely do with that box: send it to the trash...

Part of the fun of vintage Volvos is learning as you go, it's really just sound engineering and mechanics, and doing it yourself...

Watch...next when you ask him to tune up the carbs, I can just about guarantee he'll tell you you need rebuilt ones...that's when you need to say: thank you, leave, and put out a post, stating your location and asking for a good, real mechanic...that's what a lot of new brickboarders do...or post the symptoms and ask for tuneup advice...

Sorry to welcome you in this way, but it's just too common and it bothers the heck out of me...I want you to have a good experience, and not be posting some story of dissapointment here in the future about how you regret wasting good money on "that damned old car"...

Cheers