I have been working on my 81 for a few weeks now. It has alot of coolant getting into the motor which is I believe the reason it starts hard, Im hoping that its not a compression problem, because it runs smooth once i have it running and warmed up. Now I noticed that the cold start tank still contans fluid how car i tell if thew coolant in the motor is from that or from the cooling system. My uncle thinks its a bad O ring on the intake manifold.

 

It's probably a bad o-ring on the intake manifold, if it's not then it's the inner coolant seals in the motor, which means rebuild.

 

If it is the inner coolant seal do a search on Paul Yaw's fix. I did this the other day on my 85 SE and it worked! Saved the re-build till later. Doesn't hurt to try. Only cost about $12 and 3 1/2 hrs time.