Ya i'm not too happy about it either. From what i read if you use even a screw driver you're at risk. But your'e solution is the most professional one i've seen that isn't bobo as hell, so I might just order some and go for it. I just don't like the drill idea as I'm kind of heavy handed with power tools.

As for the other things, I've cleaned the maf and ess, reset the nvram, and everything like that already one of the first things i did. The maf readings were with ac mostly off, turned it on for a couple minutes but left it off for the most part. And I kind of figured that the hot start was more a compression/valve issue I'm kind of just waiting for the motor to get bad to the point that i can warranty it out and get me a new one.