Complete newbie here. Any advice on AC?

I have a 74 Dodge Dart swinger and as of now the heater works but the CA does not. I haven't tried refilling it but my buddy was telling me I may need to convert it to a more up to date ac system How difficult/costly is it to do such a job? My friends are mechanics and I am far from but I'd like to look into trying to this myself rather than going to them helplessly or at least I'd like to go with some knowledge.