Ok so a buddy of mine has an '84 2wd coupe with a Carter-Weber on it. Of course the carb was loose so I got it all tightened and I also checked to see if the acellerator pump was good but we still have a problem. It won't start on its own. It turns over and over and over wanting to start. Its getting fuel, spark, everything. If we push start it, it'll start right away but in the first couple seconds, it feels like its not getting gas but then she takes off and doesn't have a problem after that. If you shut it off and start it back up within a couple seconds, it'll restart but if you wait a couple minutes, it won't start unless you push start it. It runs great, idles great, everything but it won't start under its own power. The guy also has like no money to do a Hitachi swap either so we gotta play around with this. Any ideas?

By push start you mean compression start?

Push starting it consisted of 3 guys pushing while I had it on and in first gear with the clutch in. We got up to about 8mph and I dumped the clutch

Yeah im pretty sure thats called compression starting. Or thats what my brother always told me it was called. We would do that everytime the battery died... id push the car either down a hill or just fast from behind and hed dump the clutch and itd fire right up. Donno your problem though... ill leave that to the experts.