Will not crank

I hope this question reaches CJ Medevac.

My vehicle has sat for 3 months. Prior to that it was driven daily and ran “good” but not to a “t”.
Current issue: vehicle will drain the battery before I can get it to start. With jumper cables on the daily Honda, it will crank after about the 30th time. Then boom it runs and I can drive it around town doing 45-60 mph fine. Every so often it will spit and sputter and cut off but usually crank on the 3rd-4th try after I have sat at the traffic light holding up traffic. It has a Weber 32/36 dgev. I just replaced the very worn timing chain and cruised about 5 miles, stop and go in the neighborhood, without it cutting off. This may be because it’s 40° outside now and it didn’t even get hot enough for the thermostat to open. So maybe it only cuts off when it gets warm. But I dread driving it far enough to get hot because I don’t want to be stranded from a dead battery. Again.
Most obvious issue. Even with gas/starting fluid poured the carburetor I can give it a few cranks and it will do a hiss very violently out of the top of the carburetor. Determined as I am, I ignore it and give it 20 more cranks until it starts. I have not pulled the distributor yet. I have a new cap and rotor on the way. Any ideas? Does it sound like bad timing? To me it does but why would sit and idle good once it finally cranks? Is it a choke issue? Could be but why would putting gas directly in the carburetor produce no result. I will spark test it with a nail in the plug wire as soon as I get back in town.