What part of the country are you located ?
What is the condition of the parts... you probably don't know this yet... but determining what the cause of it not working the last 8 years can be important information.....
Has the system been opened up this time... or closed but just won't turn on and cool ?
Has it already been converted to 134a ?
This site has a great search feature... and this subject has been discussed a lot... so you should do some reading before you start asking to many more questions....
Is your 240 a manual or automatic ?