HELP...Will not idle in gear

OOps
Yeah they aren't very happy running on 5. They will run on fewer tho.But once you get down to to 3 , she'd need a bigger flywheel.Years ago I had an Aspen given to me cuz it was only hitting on 4. Turned out it needed a valve job.
If you have set the timing by ear, you have no way of knowing what the power-timing is, and that is not good. So you really need to chase that. In the mean time, try not to work the engine too hard.