Need Help: Car Starts cold and then konks out and restart takes forever.....

I'm late to the party. If it runs relatively well, it has spark, fuel, compression , and the timing needed. If it quits and is hard to start, like others have mentioned, you need to diagnose whether you lost spark or fuel. Pull the air cleaner and open the throttle. Is the choke open/ Is there accelerator pump squirt? If all is ok there you need to check for spark. a screwdriver stuffed in a plug wire and laying a 1/4" or so from the exhaust manifold works for a spark tester as long as you have a buddy along to crank the engine over. Now that's just a start. You may have to study up for more possibilities. Sorry if I