Misbehaving engine, It was time for something to act up, right? Options

[BigDBass]

We drove the 914 to my wife's cousins' graduation party about 45 minutes away, and on the way home some recently emerging engine (mis)behavior really started showing up.

It sorta "hops" or "skips" occassionally while cruising at a steady RPM (mid-3000s).

Now a new thing: When I really open up the throttle, it seems to stumble a little bit, and I hear some popping sounds that maybe is backfiring? It's not a big BANG by any means, just pop pop pop while I can feel a lack of power.

I just filled up the tank, so maybe the gas was sub-par? I've been using the normal grade unleaded, but this was a brand I don't really know, in a different county.

(Also, I think this is a separate issue: until it warms up, it idles poorly, at very low RPMs and dies a few times. Dave-O mentioned adjusting the idle bleed screw in his PPI results.)