He told me it was broken in, and when taking it apart it was definitely nice and greased up. But the reason I started taking it apart was because of that sticky feeling ... is that normal too?

And also, when I tried to start it up tonight it wasn't sucking in gas through the carb. I primed it by blowing in the exhaust tube to get the gas up to the carb, but I couldn't get it to start. I tried opening up the throttle some more, but it was like the carb didn't have much or any suction. Could this be due the the total lack of gaskets? All sucking power would be gone I assume?

If all I need to do is get a gasket set to get this baby running, that would be awesome. And thanks for letting me know about the "pinch", I am still new at this. But the engine did feel very sticky at the top, I figured it would just be smoother. So that stickiness is completely normal?