I forgot to mention that I recently upgraded to a larger diameter intake tube I found at the junkyard - its about a half inch wider than the one I had on there - at first it had a hard time starting up but each time got harder and harder until it was nearly impossible to start after turning it off and letting it rest awhile - but after about 10 minutes or so I am able to start on the first crank everytime - my mechanic mentioned that because more air is now getting into the intake a time - the air/fuel mixture screw needs to be adjusted to recalibrate the correct ratio - says it'll cost about a hundred (being that I'm a regular customer) w/o any complications - so I hope that's the reason why so I don't have to worry about it anymore - I'm guessing it needs more air cause if I crank it long enough the engine smells as if its being flooded (and drains the battery quickly) but hopefully this is the solution I'm hoping will bring my car back to starting normally
Thanks for the advice though!