Basically dug an old Nitro RC car out of the cupboard with a view to getting it running and either using it for a bit of a laugh or just selling it.

Having loads of trouble getting it started and knowing theres a couple of RC car people on here hopefully someone may be able to assist!

Ive renewed a few bits that were clearly broken, i.e pullstart, bodyshell etc and bought a gallon of Nitro fuel as the fuel in the tank was very old.

After charging the glow igniter for 10-12 hours I gave it a bash, heated the plug up and gave it a couple of pulls and nothing! Tried it loads of times since and cant get anything out of it, sounds like it should be ready to go but just wont fire!

Things ive checked so far and I believe can be eliminated are as follows:

Glow Plug = Tested out of car and glows brightly (although not to the very tip of the coil, probably glows to 1 coil before the tip!) Ive also tested it by wiring 2 x AA batteries in circuit with the plug, this also caused the glow plug to glow so the plug seems ok!

Glow Starter = Charged 2/3 times in the past week, tested on glow plug and as mentioned above the plug glowed fairly brightly!

Fuel = Fresh fuel in the tank, and plenty of it! Fuel seems to be reaching carb/engine as turning the car over with the plug out causes fuel to spray out of hole in top of cylinder/heat sink!

Engine = Looks ok and turns over ok, piston moves as expected. The only thing is the top of the piston looks a bit tarnished but certainly doesnt look like its worthy of causing it not to start!

Now im a bit stumped as to what to do next, im toying with the idea of buying a starter box to try and start it like that but would prefer to eliminate other issues first as ive got a feeling I could fork out £50/60 to be in the same boat!! The only thing I can think it could be is some sort of air leak, not sure how "air tight" these should be but when I blow back down the fuel pipe (from exhaust end) it seems like the lid of the fuel tank is not entirely tight, if I apply pressure to the lid it seems sealed but if not I can hear air leaking from it, with that said it does seem to flow fuel into the carb however occassionally air bubbles form in the fuel line!

Anyone got any ideas?!