Jeff and Dan both speak the truth!

At or about the same time, I did check and adjust the timing, and when I
checked the grounds, I added a spiffy new ground braid from the driver's
side head to the firewall... (The original ground braid was long gone, the
replacement added by a PO involved two short, thin braids, spliced in
midair with a nut& bolt, and run to a coil bracket screw... I didn't trust
it, but kept it in place as an auxiliary ground and a conversation piece :-)

Tim

Daniel L. Katz:
>yes. and also the crimps on ground wires should be inspected. i had an 8
>ohm resistance between the wire and lug on the engine side of the driver
>side braided ground strap on our 1.9l - diagnosis was via large voltage
>drop across strap - engine ran fine both before and after fix.

Jeff Oxroad:

>  adjust the timing. I had several of the problems Tim spoke of and when
> repaired
>the idle still hunted a bit--not as bad--and the correct timing adjustment
>brought everything back to normal.