A miss and a stall, a bodgey idle and a big puff of smoke

[a.Lpha]

Before my alternator died, it was intermitent. and this was because it was slowly being killed by the power steering fluid, though I'm not sure if your build has the pump in a different spot. when you're actually having the aformentioned problems just throw a multimeter on it and see if it's staying where it's supposed to.