I put it into gear and it dies.

ye
lol

He's likely found the problem with the idle situation.
yeah I think so too. that whole vacuum tree situation was just bad. even the ones with the vacuum caps on them were likely not sealing.
And i was able to fix the alternator by just putting a longer bolt in it and a bunch of washers. I got lucky; only one thread was screwed up and I was able to go past it with the longer bolt. PXL_20220110_013623530.jpg