I just bought a 65 corvair ...it starts fine and idles good...it accelerates in nuetral fine....when I drop it into drive or reverse the engine stalls and dies...is this the torque converter not working or is it some else?

Could be.....can you keep it running at all in gear.....by playing with the throttle or anything?

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the minute it goes in gear it dies....I got an interesting answer on a corvair site...

Hi Greg,
I believe this is commonly caused when the idle is too high when the timing is set. This causes the vacuum advance to kick in when the timing is set. When the vacuum advance kicks out in gear, the timing retards and the engine dies. Just try lowering the idle speed to spec THEN set the timing.

You could also "adjust" the vacuum advance cannister if it is kicking in too soon due to a weakened internal spring. Use a hand vacuum pump and see at what vacuum it starts kicking in. It should be about 8-10 (as I recall) but most are 5-7. Perform a search here for "vacuum adjust" or "calibrate vacuum" for all dates and see what you find. It has been posted many times before here. To calibrate, just remove the vacuum advance module and with a long 9/16"-inch socket, band on the end. This compresses the spring and moves the initial vacuum actuation point higher. Matt likes to have his around 10.

-- Larry