Are you saying that for the first second or so everything is fine, then once the igntion gets power the fighting of ignition spark vs starter cranking occurs?

If this is the case, I've had Toyotas do kind of the reverse, that during cranking the timing would **** to where the engine would barely start. Once the engine did start & the starter was disengaged everything went back to normal.

I checked this by using a seperate battery for the starter & totally isolating the starter circuit during cranking. Once the draw of the starter was isolated, the ignition system worked normally while cranking.

I then replaced the distributor & haven't had a problem since.

After posting I re-read your question & noticed it seems you may have already replaced the distributor- if so- was it an aftermarket or Hyster original? I haven't had good luck with aftermaarket distributors- they seem to work correctly for a short while the have a multitude of different issues