Air Conditioning troubleshooting

[Lerch1145]

Good morning, with summer fast approaching I have been working to get the A/C stystem up and running. Working through everything I noticed the heater return line from the heater core was getting as hot as the feed line. Replaced the water valve thinking this was the issue. Currently still does the same thing? Has good vacume with the A/C system is on? Is this correct? With the A/C system off the vacume stops. First roadblock of many to come.