need help hooking up motor

Hi. I recently was given a 15 foot glastron, year unknown but im guessing 70s. It has a 40hp 2stroke johnson outboard.
The motor is on the boat but nothing is hooked up. I was told the motor runs great, but that it wont come out of forward. The guy said that its controlled electrically through a wire that runs through the lower end. Also none of the steering or throttle cables are hooked up.
I need some advice on where to start working on this thing.
id like to fire the motor up before working on the shifting issue.
Im not sure of the year on the motor. Its an electric start.
Ive had a lot of experience working on 70s jet boats but am lost on this type of motor.

Fix the motor first, off the boat. Buy a good shop manual for that motor. Build yourself an outboard stand - there are plans all over the web. Remove the motor, put it on the stand, and either use a test barrel of water or muffs. You do not want to run the motor without cooling water over the intakes that are on the bottom of the unit.

Pull the initial maintenance on the boat - change the motor oil and filter, change the oil in the lower unit, change out the fuel filter(s), install new spark plugs. Also, it would be a good idea to change out the water pump impeller.

Set up a portable fuel tank with fresh fuel and oil mixture. I think all of those old Johnsons used a 50:1 fuel to oil ratio, but check that with a dealer or boat mechanic. Hook the motor up to a fresh battery and try to start it.

Once it runs decently and shifts correctly, then re-attach to the boat. The shop manual should give you the basics for hooking everything up. If not, search the web.