1995 Johnson 25hp "J25REOR"

My dad gave me an old jon boat with a 1995 25 hp Johnson. He went through a separation in 2007, and the divorce was final in 2009. The boat had been sitting up since at least the summer of 2007, it had always been serviced and well taken care of before that. He says it ran like a top, other than an issue with it not shifting from forward or reverse to neutral. Anyway, in 2009 (I think), a friend of his helped him store some stuff at his house and he kept the boat uncovered in his back yard and it hasn't been run in all that time. I just brought it to my house last week. I pulled the string, and it still has compression, so I'm pretty certain it's still a good motor, but I'm no mechanic. He told me he ran all the gas out of the motor before it sat up, and the fuel lines were disconnected. When I pulled the cover off, there was a wasp nest attached to the underside of the cover and a dirt dauber nest attached to one of the spark plug wires, other than that it was clean on the inside. I haven't tried to start it yet, but I plan to either tomorrow or Friday after work. My dad said if it starts up, the first thing that I should do is change all of the seals and fuel lines if possible. I was just wondering if maybe someone a little more knowledgeable might be able to tell me a little more about cold starts with these particular engines. It's a 1995 Johnson 25hp model# J25REOR. Thank you.

pull the plugs
spray a little seafoam in the cylinders, and turn the flywheel a bit.

install new plugs, and gas. put the motor in trash barrel and give it a go. should be pumpimg water, get some weedeater line and poke the pee hole, as sometimes bugs will go up there and create a plug.

i would plan on replacing the impeller, and chaging the lower unit oil just incase.
dino

I agree with dino. ^^^
Plan on servicing the engine or have a qualified person service it for you.
Those are great engines when they're properly cared for.
Ebay is a good place to find a OMC service manual at a reasonable cost.

Good luck.