New Starter rebuild and new battery.... ISSUE with starting... baffles me... will not start on 1st crank attempt

The issue with coils is that they generally fail when they get hot, not on cold startup. If they fail open you are lucky, because it's easy to find and fix. Sometimes these particular coils fail to ground though and because they are inserted in the head, the arcing can't be seen. If you take the coil out and test it, it could test fine electrically with an ohmmeter but.... put it in the head and pfftt.

I think you have verified that the battery voltage is good under load (over 10.8v), the engine is spinning over fast enough whether on initial startup or 2nd one and the reason for a faster starter speed on 2nd start is because, as Turbo stated in post #11, you aren't getting any ignition help until the 2nd start attempt. You stated that your fuel pump runs right away so what is potentially stopping ignition... Are the injectors not getting a signal to spray fuel or are the coils not getting a signal to fire?? I like the theory of some burnt contacts in the relay. Cheap thing to check.

Up date on mine
While i was changing the coils i spotted a connector under the tank (the only one that i had not cleaned) so i pulled apart to inspect and found it had a light green coating on the pins.
So with the pins clean i can now get a good check using a test light over 30 ohms one with 5 ohms will short out the coil .
By hooking the clamp to to positive terminal coil and placing the probe pon the negative side of the coil which the ecu grounds i now have a good flashing test light. B4 it was barely blinking like maybe just a slight change because of the compression strokes.
For what it is worth with the dwell meter set on 6 cyl the coils read 55 and the injectors at idle read 48.
So i now believe it was not the coils but the connector under the tank.
I may have to wait till winter to confirm a fix. Lol

when i get back in a few weeks from my work trip ill tackle the starter issue after i weld up the CAT box.
So now she is getting to the point its some times 2 or 3, some times 7 or 8 and everything in between attempts to start.
Im going to go though the ENTIRE harness and every connection and coils, im due for plugs and an oil change too and some other maintenance im going to get all taken care of at once.