[Guitar.Slave]

Thanks for the link, that's exactly what I needed.
Sounds like idle mix screws got dirty.
Accelerator pump was replaced and I'm getting the same result. I bust out the guitar string and poke all the holes a few times and hopefully that clears things up.

I'm not surging when I tickle the pedal like described in the video, it dies like I push the choke all the way closed or its instantly being completely flooded or starved for fuel. if I play with it it behaves and responds fine until I let it drop to around idle again.

I'll have someone watch the lines for collapse but with the electric pump I shouldn't be getting a collapse.

Thanks for the responses everyone! just gonna start doing a completely thorough check of everything since this doesn't sound like typical carb issues.
Cheers to doing it right the first time!