RE: determining proper thrust
The only way to determine when the thrust is correct is to fly it. Fly away from yourself, on a calm day. Pull up until the plane is vertical. If it pulls off the the left, it needs right thrust, if it pulls off to the right, it needs left thrust. Check several times to make sure that it was not your inputs that cause it to pull off to one side, before making changes.
Typically about 2 degrees of right thrust is a good place to start. Some planes are set up with some thrust built into the firewall, and, if it has a cowl, the engine may be offset to the left so that the crank exits the center of the cowl. Engines and even props can change the necessary thrust offset.