I have had my 65 riv sitting in the garage of over a year. I was in the middle of fixing the water pump when funds ran short. I havent' started it since then. What can I do, if anything, to prevent anything going wrong when i restart it. Im now replacing the water pump, gasket, hoses, pretty much the cooling system. any help would be cool

This is what I do when I'm getting ready to start one that hasn't been started in a long time. It maybe overkill, but I'd rather be safe than sorry and picking up broken pieces of my motor.
1. Pull all of the spark plugs out of the motor and fill each cylinder with Marvel Mystery Oil. I've found the best way to do this is with a turkey baster. It looks like a giant syringe can does a good job of getting the oil into the cylinder.
2. Wait at least a day and repeat the above process.
3. At this point with the plugs still out Use a socket and a large rachet and slowly turn the motor over by hand. If it feels stiff or it will not turn. Repeat the soaking process.
4. Wait a day and try to turn ther motor over by hand. While you're turning over the motor any oil that has not soaked through will be forced back out of the cylinders which is fine.
5. Drain the oil pan and refill with the proper oil and best bet go ahead and replace the filter. Remove the high tension lead for the coil(the power wire) and crank the motor over witout the plugs in it. This way the oil pump will prime the motor, but there won't be alot of stress on it since there is no compression with the plugs out.
6. Replace plugs, power wire for the coil, make sure you have fuel and start it.
7. Turn the heater all the way on and fill the cooling system as needed. You;ll want to make sure you get all of the air pockets out of the cooling sytem, ,This may take awhile, but keep a close eye on the coolant level in the radiator while you're doing this.
This is of course how I do it and I'm not saying this is the only way, just my opinion.

Thanks Aaron, I'll give it a go...do i have to worry about the gas in the tank. If I'm not mistaken, I had about 3/4 of a tank left in there.
Thanks again for you help..

Chris

Pull of your gas cap and see how its smells. If it smells like turpintine drain the tank. I would drain the tank anyway if you have someplace to dispose of the gas