Hey all. Just picked up an '83 2.3L with an apparently blown headgasket. Got it to run, but only with the choke butterfly held open, and it fouled all four plugs in under a minute. Also wouldn't idle evenly, would only run smoothish at 2-3k. No obvious oil/coolant contamination on either end. Did an oil change, threw in new plugs, and still nothing. It had a new dizzy cap and rotor, plug wires, and some horrid bosch 4 prong plugs that I want to beat someone with. Possibly the "engineer" (and I DO use that term LOOSELY) who decided to add three freaking EGR lines. (for those who want a count: 1: Line from the cat>some weird freaking v-belt driven pump, 2: Line from the header > carb, 3: Line from the header > v-belt pump)

I don't know if mine is "special" or if the designer is an idiot, but I want ALL of the EGR lines removed, and chucked. I do not really care about emission testing (Hello Alaska!), and I don't care about performance. I want a dumb engine. Is it so simple as to just block off all the plates and move on, or is there more to it than that?

First post by the way. Hopefully you guys/gals can help me out with this. I really need this rig going soon.

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1983 Ranger 2.3L