Well the search continues.. the volvo searches for a happy idle and I search for the problem.
Last night I made a air solenoid bypass setup with heater hose and a 90 deg airline shutoff valve inserted in the middle. hooked it up to the outlet and inlet that the bypass solenoid is normally hooked to.
With the hand valve I was able to find a happy (kinda) spot and it sat and idled
pretty well.. searched a bit. So I left the bypass in place and will pull the hose off the inlet side of the solenoid tonight (after work) and watch it to see if it
is actuating while the car runs. I will also check the idle switch in the throttle body to see if it is doing it's job if the solenoid doesnt look like it is working.
I plan on putting photos and such up and will post the addy when I get to that point but I think I am closing in on this problem.
I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to give me input on this!!!
I hope to repay the board by posting the chronicals and some photos on my site. I also need to pull the in tank pump just for good measure and replace the items that have been pointed out to me so far such as the filter. (hopefully the pump is OK).

Thanks again and will report findings when I find them! ;-)
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vw bus site - http://www.geocities.com/vw_bus_74/index.html