New to Rc world....help

[Trevlar11]

Okay so last week I traded a broken snowmobile for a nitro car. I'm brand new to this hobby, don't know anything about it. Got the car from a sketchy guy who was kinda shady in details. Car looks to be in fair shape, little rough here and there. The guy "said" that the engine was a fresh rebuild and is a 3.3. I broke the pullstart and took it apart and found out that the piston was stuck at TDC because piston sleeve is tight and a lot of carbon. Cleaned it up, put it back together just waiting on a new pullcord in the mail. He said the motor is a 3.3 but it says 2.5 on it so I'm guessing it isn't. Car came with a gallon of fuel that hadn't been opened. My question is what model is this car? Is this a 2.5 motor? What things should I look at and check before playing with it? Thanks

Hold on having trouble uploading the photos

 

[BamaFan]

Welcome! If you get the pictures uploaded we will be able to help better. I attached some links for you to follow. Hope this helps.
https://www.rcnitrotalk.com/forum/threads/nitro-rc-beginners-guide.68224/
https://www.rcnitrotalk.com/forum/threads/nitro-tuning-tips-and-tuning-flow-chart.60832/

 

[hotrodrob]

If he said it was a 3.3 engine then more than likely it is probably a Traxxas brand rc,they have a 2.5 engine that looks almost the same as their 3.3,.first thing you wanna check and make absolutely sure of is the electronics, you need to make sure everything is in 100% working condition,last thing you want is a runaway rc,once the electronics check out you wanna move on to your throttle and steering linkadges,with the electronics on remove the air filter and observe the inside of the carb,at idle."finger off the throttle there should be only an ever so slight gap down in the carb throat" about 1mm"this is called your idle gap,if that checks out see if she opens wot with your radio,....apply the breaks with the radio and make sure they do their thing,..steering is easier,make sure it operates like steering should,check all screws and nuts ect...fuel lines,...this is a good time to get familiar with your kit.....post some pics or at least give us some solid descriptions of the rc so we can identify it for you, then we will move on to starting it and carb settings

 

[ninnon]

If he said it was a 3.3 engine then more than likely it is probably a Traxxas brand rc,they have a 2.5 engine that looks almost the same as their 3.3,.first thing you wanna check and make absolutely sure of is the electronics, you need to make sure everything is in 100% working condition,last thing you want is a runaway rc,once the electronics check out you wanna move on to your throttle and steering linkadges,with the electronics on remove the air filter and observe the inside of the carb,at idle."finger off the throttle there should be only an ever so slight gap down in the carb throat" about 1mm"this is called your idle gap,if that checks out see if she opens wot with your radio,....apply the breaks with the radio and make sure they do their thing,..steering is easier,make sure it operates like steering should,check all screws and nuts ect...fuel lines,...this is a good time to get familiar with your kit.....post some pics or at least give us some solid descriptions of the rc so we can identify it for you, then we will move on to starting it and carb settings

I'm not great at identifying cars but it would help if I had some pictures...but from what you've said it may be a Jato 3.3 he was talking about:
https://traxxas.com/products/models/nitro/55077-1jato33
As for how to use it follow BamaFans links to get you started, but as with anything nitro....CLEAN IT AND TEAR IT DOWN!, you get to know your buggy inside out and it helps you to fix problems later on