1993 Honda Prelude Si, rebuilt h23 head, I/H/E

I'm currently still dealing with the hard start issue. On a cold start, it takes about 4-5 seconds of crank time until she fires up. And when she does fire up, it feels like a struggle fire up. but after the car is already running and i turn her off and immediately try to start her, it only takes about 1 second to start her backup.

I attached a fuel pressure guage on the fuel filter and I noticed the fuel pressure reads 38 psi (within tolerance) while the car is on BUT when i turn off the car, the fuel pressure starts to drop slowly until it reaches zero.

Now my question, Is the fuel pressure suppose to stay high even when the car is turned off? Or could there be something wrong with my fuel pressure regulator which is bleeding off the fuel pressure by dumping the fuel back into the tank?

 

Bump b/c I have this same problem . I think my problem is the autozone fuel filter I replaced my original one with though