Mine had a similiar problem, turned out to be the IAC valve & the 02 sensor. Cleaned the IAC out (actually I cleaned the throttle body at the same time) & unplugged the 02, fixed it right up. Later after I converted to manual I found it did the pop pop pop pop down hills etc & I could basically make it backfire when ever I wanted by giving it a rev on down changes...........loved it!!!!!! It would also do big floating flames out the back & the occasional backfire on up changes. I replaced the ECU & it fixed it for a while until the ECU re-learned itself.
Engine was stock apart from 3" exhaust, FMIC, Pod & HKS SSQV. The sad part is my RB26 doesn't do it, well it did while I had no exhaust but not anymore