Ok, today the car was still showing intermittent signs of hesitation after last night's brief drive, so I decided to do the knock sensor wire wrap followed by the zip tie secure and black tape.
Container of assorted color zip ties + wire wrap cost $14 at Advance.
The pics I took after I finished:
1) a top down shot of the engine compartment showing where this little trouble maker is located
2) blue wire loom sleeve I placed over the knock sensor wire (about 5" long split tube, gradually fed it down over wire)
3) zip tied the new blue piece to an adjacent factory ribbed wire loom (this will prevent the new blue plastic loom from moving)
4) zip tied the area above the sensor plug to other adjacent lines (keep the whole thing stable)
5) black taped the top portion
6) black taped the bottom portion (I tightened that loose end after I took the pic)
I spent 45-60 min on it as it's a tough place to work (black taping was a huge pain), plus I removed the air box and it's first section of tubing to better see things.
Thanks again to bpd1151 and ShoBoat for their discovery and subsequent cures of the problem!
Afterwards, I went on a short drive to the store and can say it certainly feels like the problem is gone. I'll be going a a longer drive tonight, will report back ...
