"deleting emissions components is against federal law, and is punishable by a heafty fine"
The same could be said for doing the Duraspark conversion, which many Ranger and B2 owners have done. We have found it impossible to find some emissions components to replace the ones that go bad on these 25-year-old trucks. There comes a point when you can't continue to comply with the Federal emissions regulations even if you want to.
"deleting the EGR can also cause a number of driveability problems not limited to pinging, and decreased milage and power"
Contrar! Not deleting them when that stuff starts to go bad and you can't get parts to fix them is guaranteed to keep you from getting your rig to run well again. It's not just the EGR valve that's the problem. You can find a replacement for that okay. But some of the other emissions components that the EGR valve works together with are no longer available. Besides, rigs ran just fine in the days before we ever had EGR! I did the Duraspark conversion and blocked off my EGR several years ago. I've gotten 22 mpg a couple of times since doing that and my Ranger 4x4 runs great! No ping, no drivability problems either.