After getting the car started (more later) you could do a lot worse than getting someone with a bit of car knowledge to give the car a look over, or failing that getting an MOT test at a good local garage (not a Hanford/Quickfit etc chain) to see what's needed to get your car back on the road.
To drive the car on the road you'd obviously have to insure the car which could prove expensive if you find the car is too expensive to recommission.
Assuming there was not a major reason to take the car off the road back then, getting it started and rolling are the first jobs.
Your car will have an immobiliser fitted as standard and even the simple job of fitting a new battery will trip it so you'll need to be prepared. Do you have remote central locking? If so, put new batteries in the key fobs (there'll be a thread about that on this forum that'll help). If not, then you may need to know the four-digit security door code to get past the immobiliser. Your handbook should help you with this.
After probably pumping the tyres back up a bit, roll the car outside to do the work as exhaust fumes in garages are dangerous. If the car's been standing for sometime the petrol may have gone stale so adding some new might be a good idea.
Fit the battery and ensure you've extinguished the red immobiliser warning light in the instrument pack.
Once you've checked everything is still connected under the bonnet and you have coolant in all the right places (check the level in the header tank) and none of the wrong ones (look on the garage floor where it was parked for staining and around the pipes and hoses for dampness, it'll be time to try and start it!
With old fuel it's unlikely to fire immediately so may take a bit of cranking. Squirting some brake cleaner (or 'Easystart' if it's still allowed to be sold) into the air intake for the engine can give it a little extra help. If you don't get it to start or even 'cough' in half-a-dozen 5-second cranks stop to consider why, otherwise you'll just flatten the battery.
What you can do next depends on whether you can smell petrol fumes from the exhaust pipe after all that cranking.
If you can, it's likely to be lack of a spark at the spark plugs, if not then it's fuel supply-related. Either way you need some more help...
Does this give you enough info to give it a go?
Pls ask if not and do let us know how you get on. These are good cars well worth keeping going
I like Twin Cams.... and Single Cams...and now Turbos
