When my dad gave me his old 1985 740 Turbo with 77k miles I took it to Volvo to have them give it a "check out". Now they only charged me $100, but I think the only thing they did was clean the throttle body and change that gasket.

You would think they would have at least noticed the broken muffler pipe which almost fell off shortly after I spotted it under the car. They missed a bunch of other little things too.

If the car is running and you have the time, buy a service manual and read the FAQ's here (lot's of reading). You can buy a lot of parts online for $1000. I never did much other than spark plugs, oil changes and brake pads before. I spent a lot on parts to refurbish mine, but the labor for all the work I did myself would have cost big bucks. I found a lot of things and fixed them that have been broken for a long time, like the air box thermostat. If it were not for the FAQ's here I would not have known to even check for that, and it was an easy $10 fix. Plus the nice folks here will give you help on most any problem.

I say do the work yourself if you have the time, tools, and a little patience. For the jobs that require too many special tools or are very difficult, that's when I am going to take mine in now.

good luck with it,
Randy