I did mean to ask about that CEL... and you just explained it. Thanks! Had you mentioned something about the ECT, I probably would have remembered where I had one laying around. LOL.
Re: Timing - I'm going to agree with checking your valve timing and any mechanical parts in the distributor. If your timing belt isn't timed properly, it will also screw up your ignition timing. The combination of both being slightly off (or very off, either way) will surely make for some interesting running conditions.
Re: The pins - You can get the cheap kits from AutoZone, where they're just two pins that stick through the hood and you put a clevis through them. They're like $20. I had them on my Turbo Escort, because after modifying things under the hood, I found that it wouldn't stay closed. I never figured out why, I just removed the hood latch assembly and added pins. It was cheaper than wasting my time diagnosing it, when I could have been racing.
Re: Bimmer Geeks - Cool, nice to meet you, DamageX. Please take some time to browse the forum, check out the various projects going on here at any point in time, and add any constructive input or opinions you may have. I hope you'll find this forum to your liking, and stick around awhile!
As for the front hinged hood, You could pretty easily side-hinge it, or split it up the middle and hinge both sides, etc... that would prevent a fly-up from ever occuring again. Either method can be achieved with some piano hinge, honestly. I know a guy that has a weird opening hood on his Cabriolet (custom car) that opens at an angle to the driver's side, and he just used plain piano hinge to hinge the hood.
Additionally, a piano-hinged side-opening hood would probably perfectly fill in the hood/fender gap... better aero?
