Engine won't start cold without ether in the air breather

I think you came up with that diagnosis with a dart board. There's two common causes of hard starting. One is loss of fuel pressure and the other is the battery was recently disconnected or run dead. Until the Engine Computer relearns "minimum throttle", you'll need to hold the accelerator pedal down 1/4" to get the engine to start, you won't get the nice idle flare-up to 1500 rpm at start-up, and it will tend to stall at stop signs.

Was the battery recently disconnected? If not, check for fuel pressure after the engine has been off for a few hours.