New to list and have a tech question

[fiat128@mindspring.com (Wiley Robinson)]

Hi, I am new to this list and also new to VW ownership (not counting the
first Scirocco that I drove very little and sold to someone here about a
year later).  I have an 81 Scirocco S that I bought last week and an 88
Cabriolet that I have had about three months.

I also have other cars, all from Europe except for an old pickup and my
wife's Mazda.

I'll start with the Scirocco.  This car ran perfectly for the first four
days I owned it.  However, I took it to work with me for the first time and
had an odd problem on my return both times I drove it.

I work in Mexico and to come home I must wait in line for 1-2 hours to
clear customs.  This involves crossing a very steep bridge.  When I get on
the bridge as soon as I start the uphill part the idle becomes very erratic
and the car starts skipping and running very poorly.  I had to keep reving
the motor to stop it from stalling.  The first time this happend I thought
it was low on gas and not feeding well so once across I filled the tank and
went home.  It took about 10 miles before the car began to run normally.

The next day the car was running OK until I got to the steep part.  Again,
very poor idle and I began to notice some very frightening things.  The oil
temp was nearly pegged (nice information to have inside the car - kudos to
VW).  Also, the fuel pump started making noise.  Two things came to mind.
The fuel pump is crapping out, but once level the car is OK again (gas tank
was full this time).  The second thing is that the oil pickup in the pan is
sucking air when the car is tilted up in the air (is this possible? the car
also ran poorly when tilted down but it was somewhat better).  I checked
the oil and the car was a quart low.  I'm not sure if I bought it like this
or not.

This problem seems to be caused by having the car sit at idle while the
nose is tilted up in the air for long periods of time.  I have no trouble
just driving up a hill.  The idle on this car was a constant 2K when I got
it, which seems high to me and makes me think the P.O. had some sort of
problem with it.  Now it varies somewhat from about 1,000 - 2,000 RPMs.

Anyone have any ideas?  I have not driven this car across the bridge since
then for fear of causing major damage to the engine.  It runs good and I
just went out with no problems.  Please post or email any ideas you may
have, I really need the help.  

BTW, this is the 1.6 8v engine that the car was sold with.  The only
changes have been made to the suspension and some aftermarket body parts.