idling and shifter problems

[Tod]

two things bothering me about the car. first is an idling hesitation every now and then when i first start it up. not everytime just sometimes. it'll be at idle and the rpm's will dip about .5K nearly stalling, then back up to normal then back down kinda like a slow heartbeat. and if i then drive before it stops the hesitating thing, everytime i push in the clutch before shifts the exhaust will pop and gurgle. this only lasts for about a minute or two after i start it up and after that, the car runds nice and smooth. i tried fuel injector cleaner, but it didn't stop it from happening. so i have no idea what could be the problem. any guesses?

the second thing is my shifter. i just got my transmission completely redone and fixed so i'm not worried about that. when i downshift into second gear while coasting to a stop i have trouble getting it to shift all the way into the gear. hard to explain but it takes a good hard yank to get it to click into second gear (2nd gear being the only gear it does this). i don't want to really pop it in there for fear of snapping something. is it just a shifter problem or something more serious?

thanks for any help