Hyundai Repair: 1987 Excel-- no gas?, spark plug wires, hyundai excel

Question
My cousin has an 87 Hyundai excel, with 40,000 miles that has sat for about 1 1/2 yrs. (Her father passed away and it was his car)  After a year she started going out and running it daily to keep the battery "up".  One day it wouldn't start, she ran the battery all the way down.  I put two gals of gas in it thinking perhaps she had run it out, not having put any in for the time it sat etc.
I jumped it and although it turned right over with no problem, it didn't start and run.
I removed the air filter cover and even though I had pumped the accelerator repeatedly it didn't appear to have any gas in the carb.
Any ideas what may be going on? annd since I'm thinking about buying the car..... any ideas about how to repair it?
Thanks so much!
kc

Answer
If the car was indeed run dry, it may take quite a while to get fuel up to the fuel pump.  The fuel pump runs off the engine's camshaft and sucks the fuel out of the tank.  It's a low pressure fuel pump, and if I recall correctly, only puts out about 7 PSI or so.

You might check to see if you have spark.  To do this, remove one of the spark plug wires from the plug and insert a spark plug into the end.  Make sure you have an operational Class B fire extinguisher nearby.  Make sure the top is on the air cleaner and there are no flammabli liquids in the vicinity of where you lay the plug.  Then lay the side of the plug on something metal on the car and crank the engine.  It should spark.  Lack of spark could indicate an ignition system or timing belt problem.

It's also a good idea to check the timing belt regardless of the outcome of the above.  It's possible it's jumped a few teeth, broken, or stripped.

If it still appears that the issue is fuel related, you can have someone else try to start the engine while you spray a flammable aerosol such as carburetor cleaner into the carburetor.  Do not lean over the carburetor and have a Class B fire extinguisher nearby.  A backfire could cause a fire.  If the vehicle starts or attempts to start while spraying into the carburetor, that's a sign that you aren't receiving proper fuel at the carburetor.  Since the vehicle has been sitting for quite some time, it's also possible that the jets in the carburetor are clogged.