Resurrecting a drifter after 4 years of sitting

[Lucky]

I would ---
use a transfer pump to pull out the gas - then, if there's much in there, remove and drain -- but i'd likely not bother
inspect tank for rust -- if heavy rust, then treat with evaporust or like, (or just BOILING water)
inspect antifreeze levels
air up tires
3-4 oz seafoam or marvel mystery oil in the oil, ride around for 30 minutes, change the oil

[chief]

Don't know what year model you have but get a shop manual. For 1999/2000 models get a 1999 or 2000 manual. For the rest any manual 2001 or later will work. Check ebay, they appear there periodically. You can download the owner's manual from our site, but you have to buy the manual elsewhere. I also purchased a Clymer Manual for vulcans... lot of good info there too.

https://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/Drifter1500Manuals.html
(1) Yes change the oil. After you run it a bit, you might want to do it again. Remember we have wet clutches so the oil is used for the clutch too.
(2) You can use any method to drain the gas, but after 4 years, you might want to remove the tank and do a thorough cleaning. It's not that difficult. This is where a manual will be useful. I'd use some fuel treatment and ejector cleaner as well.

https://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/gastankremoval.html

There is a PM schedule in the manual and I will provide a link below. I'd do everyone of those to ensure the bike is ready to ride. Of course, the manual will help with all of those.

https://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/pm.html

[lefecious]

Hi all. I've never done this before so would appreciate some guidance. I'm also not an experienced mechanic so explanations as if I were a 4 year old would be appreciated.

So far I've replaced just the battery.

I know I need to change the oil and clean out the fuel system somehow.

First question is should I change the oil first, even though I can't start the bike and warm it up? I'm guessing the answer is yes, as a cold oil change would probably be better than running the bike on old oil. But please correct me if I'm wrong.

2nd question is where to start with the fuel system?  Can I drain the tank without removing it?  Is siphoning out the gas good enough? And just replacing with fresh gas?

When I shine a light down there the tank doesn't look all that dirty. Although the gas cap had a bunch of crud built up in the inside of it.

The fuel gauge also said empty even though there's gas inside so I'm guessing there's a float valve that's stuck. So maybe there's more crud than I can see in there.