(ET) How to check out new E12

[Marc Paap <papaap pdnt net>]

Hello everyone I am a newbie who needs help
This spring I bought a E12 that had been stored inside for about twenty
years. I just wanted it in order to use it's parts but then I found this
e-mail list and decided to restore it. My questions are, am I going about
this the right way or can I mess something up? The old batteries were bad 
so
I followed the list's advice and got 6-6v deep cycle used batteries from a
golf cart store. I have them all charged up now. I hooked them up in series
and used them to check the back lift motor by directly hooking up to the 
two
leads. Great, it's alive! I feel like Dr. Frankenstein. I do not want to
ruin my new monster though now that it shows promise so now my questions.

1. Is that the way to check the front lift and main motor function?
I haven't gotten it up to look underneath it yet but I assume there are 
just
two leads coming from each motor. Also is that the way to check all the
other motors like tiller and mowing deck motors?

2. If they have some problem, could that ruin them for good by initially
running the 36V through them and burning them up or something? Should I
maybe just use 12V to initially check them or again, could that "mess them
up somehow".

3. Is there a better way to check the charging system than to just plug it
into a wall jack and use a voltmeter to see if 36V are coming out?

4. Is there any other advice that I need to get this going or am I on the
right track. At first I thought this thing was real simple, but after
reading the list posts for the last two months I found out more regarding
things I didn't know about like voltage surges, expensive mistakes, 
solenoid
coils, contactors, breakers, MOV, etc. Is there a website that walks a
person through basic initial check out with the order of things to do, and
mistakes not to be made etc.?

Thank you very much for any and all advice. I can not wait to see if I can
get this moving under it's own power!
Marc Paap, beginning E12S restorer.