Weird Bug issue...only under a load

[bugnut]

My daily driver Bug has started acting a little goofy recently.  Weather's starting to turn a bit nicer, but I don't think it's necessarily temperature related.  I first noticed it while on a long-distance trip (200 mi. round trip) a couple weeks ago, where after driving for a couple solid hours and I went to downshift and the engine stalled out.  I basically used the clutch to restart the engine, and she started up again just fine, but that became kind of the order of the day.  After fiddling with the engine a bit once I got home, cleaning jets, etc, I couldn't find anything apparently wrong, per say, and since that time I haven't had any issues with it, just driving around town.  Temps were a bit cooler, too, in terms of weather, but this weekend, while driving from Lakeview to Klamath Falls, the car started doing the same thing again, but the primary difference is that it only does it while under a load.  If I take the car out of gear, goose the gas once, it's idling just fine and doesn't stall.

Did the same thing this morning, driving to work, and I drive a very short distance to get to my office, so I'm convinced it's not temp related.  Any ideas out there, ignition, fuel, etc?  I'm a little stumped as to how to diagnose this, given that it only seems to occur while the car is driving under a load. 

[martin]

sounds like dirt in the tank, doesn't hurt to clean it once every 20 years or so.

[bugnut]

I was thinking that, though the filter looks good?  Would dirt in the tank be an intermittant thing, as I would have thought it would do it all the time, not just under a load.  As soon as I take it out of gear and give it a quick blip on the throttle, it idles just fine.

[Gas Cap]

Check you ign. coil. Try a different one and see if anything changes. You might have a weak coil. -Jacob- -Jacob-