I put it into gear and it dies.

Gotchya. You could have very well wiggled the back side of the ignition switch enough to restore the connection. In any event, it won't hurt a thing to take some time cleaning all those connections, I don't believe.
ok, i will try and clean out the connections starting at the easiest to get to then I will try again with the bulkhead.
I'll be working on it the whole 3-day weekend so hopefully we can get ALL the issues so far solved.
the big one still being it not wanting to drive.