I am Glad Steve the Tropica found a home in the Silicon Valley
area. 

[Too bad I don't make commi$$ion on all the EV deeds I do,
I would pour the $ into the SJEAA public EV charging fund
(am still worried we need to get enough public charging
 in place before the media tells the public to give up on
 rechargeable EVs and battery EVs are dead/gone/oldhat).]

Wouldn't your Topica be a nice display at the Stanford Rally
this Saturday!?! I don't suppose you can trailer it there?
That would be a great place to get lots of answers to your
EV restoring questions!

Be careful of a pump that has been sitting too long. It may 
need priming or locked up, and some of the automatic watering
valve caps may be funky and not working. 

If you haven't already, I would remove all the battery caps
and add distilled water to at least the top of the plates 
before charging, but do not fill the cells completely (if you 
fill it full, then charge, the cell will overflow). Once the
batteries are charged to its max, then add more distilled 
water and lightly charge again.

At this point I do not recommend spending too much effort
trying to revive the old batteries, only use them to turn 
the wheels as you stated.

At the right point, plan on ordering new batteries. US125s 
would work nicely. Jim Ramos is in Hayward and EAA members
get a discount (see http://geocities.com/sjeaa to be a 
member).

Once the pack is on order, plan on:
-labeling all the cables,
-'road mapping' which way each battery is oriented, and 
  where all the cables go (make a map of everything before
  hand)
-remove the cables
-pulling the old batteries
-cleaning all racks and cages
-if needed: repainting all of them with an acid resistive
 epoxy paint 
-clean the cables with regular rubbing alcohol
-put a light film of anti corrosive grease on the nuts
 and bolts (not the cable ends. Automotive stores have it,
 and one tube is plenty).

When the new batteries arrive, place them according to the
map you made, and cable it up. I recommend using silver 
paste (conducto-lube $70 one jar will last you 3 battery
changes) be put on all battery terminal and cable surfaces
making metal-to-metal contact with each other. It reduces
melted posts, and wastes less power (more power to the 
wheels). I use a q-tip to stir and swab it on.

Charge and water your batteries as needed. After ten 
gentle cycles of use (10, 15, 20 miles, etc),
go back through all your connections and re-tighten them 
up. Last, coat the outside surfaces of all batteries and 
cable ends (including the 12V aux battery) with the 
anti corrosive  grease (I do this and do not have acid
build up on my connections).

I would think that with it's original design, you can
expect 40 mile non-stop 55 mph highway range, and 30
mile city range. Recharge time on the on board 1kw 
charger is likely over night (at least 12 hours for a
complete charge).

...
I bet you want to get this EV on the road and enjoy it
some before you spent too much money on it. But do plan
to upgrade the charger. The on board charger was made in
the pre-PFC days. A nice PFC charger would give you the 
best of both AC voltages: 208VAC public charging and 
120VAC everywhere else.

Let us know how it goes.