Hey everyone I first want to say this is a great site and the community seems really great so thanks to the creators and contributors out there.

I am a newlywed (almost a year now) and I have had the priveldge to "marry into" a nice big ol' '97 Volvo 960. It is my wifes car. I own a '02 VW jetta so for me most of the work has been done at the shop (i do breaks, oil, and minor things myself). But recently i busted a water pump, needed a timing belt, and a list of other things on the Jetta so to the shop it went. AND WOULDN'T YOU KNOW as soon as I pay them the $1100 for the VW work my wife's Volvo's A/C quits and her service light comes on. (cutting to the chase)

THE QUESTION:
After closer inspection this 960 has been neglected (including by me because it has taken me almost a year to really look into this). The last service on record was the 20,000 mile service at a dealer and it currently has 159,000 miles on it. I called the local Volvo specialist shop and they said it will need a 150,000 mile service including a timing belt, and possible water pump (depending on what it looked like) and they would charge me to check out the A/C problem. All in all they wanted to charge over $800 to catch it up on service and a new timing belt/tensioners/etc. MY QUESTION IS: How much of this could I do? What would be YOUR first step? Are there any other things you all would suggest checking into? Any guidance will be cherished! Thanks for reading this long post.

-Phil
Nashville, TN