Tough to start after a week(or two) stood in garage.

I've got an 83  tintop 1.8 gti that I try to use a minimum of twice a month to keep it fresh. 

The last few months I seem to be having to turn it over multiple(lengthy) times to finally get it to fire.  As soon as it fires it's perfect and idles away happily. It then easily starts up after a short drive. The fuel pump is a bit noisy but doesn't seem to cause any starvation issues when driving hard. 

It's in a lockup garage that's a bit cold and damp but nothing I would consider a problem. The weathers not been overly cold either. I'd say it's getting harder each time I use it. 

Leads, dizzy, rotor are all under a year old. 

Just looking for some advice/knowledge if anyone has experienced anything similar. 

Cold start valve? WUR? 

Any help greatly appreciated.

How old are your battery to frame and frame to engine cabes, if still OEM I would start with replacing them.

Battery if not on a trickle charger then it isn't putting out as good as it should as well as how old is it.

Battery is a year old. Alternator also a year. Battery Cables are all OEM. Will have a check over them. 
Unfortunately no power in the garage for a trickle charger. Thanks 

You can buy a Solar powered Battery Trickle Charger, and if the cables are too short to go from a window on the storage unit to the car you can increase the length.

If you remove the earth lead to the battery when you park it up it will stop any drain from the battery.

I always Disconnect the battery when it's parked up in the garage. I don't think it's a battery issue. Have found a few old posts about the cold start valve and thermotime switch causing problems so will be looking into those this weekend. 

It's fine to restart once I've got it going. It just takes a huge number of long cranks to get it going(10-15+!) which is actually draining the battery. 

Fuel pump is very noisy so I'm wondering if there's a blockage causing fuel pressure problems. 

Lots to investigate! 

Thanks 

Try and look at your spark plugs before starting the engine once it's left, could be the damp getting into the engine.

Could be low fuel pressure… but I would guess you would have the problem all the time just not when it's left for a few days…

What's the signs of damp in the plugs? 

Any sort of condensation around the plugs at the HT lead end, check the colour of the tips in the engine, light grey is what you want.

How old are your spark plugs as it’s best the change them when replacing the HT leads as you said the leads, dissy and rotor arm are under a year old..

You need to work out if your problem is electrical or fuel and go from there, try cheap/free checks/fixes 1st before throwing money at the fuel injection system as things start to get expensive and a fuel pressure gauge is best for fault finding the injection system.

All the leads plugs dizzy and coil are same age. About a year in use and a year in the box while car was restored. 

Coil was a cheap part so may be an issue. 

Hopefully have a good old look at the weekend and try to eliminate a few possibles 

Tried starting this morning with no luck so fitted a new coil id bought and the car started first time. 

But then put the connections back onto the old coil and it started perfectly.  I've still put the new one on (only a cheap topran brand). And am assuming it's a damp issue causing the problems. Have sprayed a bit of wd40 over the connections and will keep the spare coil on the car so it stays dry. 

Would a more expensive(Bosch) coil be less susceptible to damp? 

Easy fix if this is all it proves to be. 

Thanks for everyone's input. 

Take all the connections apart.
Spray them with CRC wire-dri.
Close them, then over spray them with Krylon Clear to seal them, or coat with plasti-dip….

Learned that little trick on my 67MG, and I could go trough some puddles with no chance of electrical stalling, also spray the HV leads as well as the inside of the dizzy.  

is it the ignition coil or the little block? you can relocate the small coil pack thingy…to under a scuttle tray, to keep it dry.im sure mine are mounted under a metal splash tray too… will have a look on some of my cars.. on my mk2 defo it under scuttle tray, on mk1s i have each is slightly different.

you could also wrap a bit of insulation tape or vulcanising tape around the joins to try keep moisture out.

Presuming it's the coil itself and the connections into it. 
Considering making up a cylindrical rubber boot to cover over the end and connections. 
But For now a bit of wd40 should do the trick.