Well, here's the sorta final verdict:

He replaced the plugs, cleaned the wire connects, and the car is running much more smoothly-but it still has the slight idle blip. He also (on the recommendation of a mechanic friend) ran the tank to about 2 gallons, put in 3 bottles of HEET (I'm guessing it's alcohol based?) and then took the emissions test. It passed with w/flying colors. Co2 @ idle was (he thinks)260ppm before, 220 is passing and it was at 120ppm after the plugs and with the alcohol in the tank.

I'd be curious to know if the plugs alone would have changed things, but he flunked the emissions enough times that he was paying for the test, and didn't want to take any chances.

If it were my car, the idle blip would bother me enough to fix it--probably--but other than that it's running perfectly. My money's really on the MAF sensor for the idle issue.

He also got 35mpg on the last tank, pre-plugs! Not bad.

Here's a picture of the plugs, most likely original and 16 years old (sorry for the lousy pic):

Those gaps are pretty wide.

I can tell you that idle blip or surge can drive you nuts. I'm going thru it right now. New cap, plugs, wires, rotor, IAC, TPS, MAP sensor, and a spacer plate under the IAC. Still have the idle blip until I touch the gas then it's OK. I had a mechanic friend check it for codes, nothing. It runs like a champ when it is not surging, no vacuum leaks either. Many of the older Fords have this problem. Mine is a 4.9L, and it is common with the V8's as well as the 4 cyl engines. EGR is a year old, along with many of the sensors. I recall another member had similar issues with an older F series PU.

Try a high pressure FI cleaning, it might help.Be sure there are no vacuum leaks and the EGR is good.

Glad you got it to pass. I've got a 1994 LX sedan with 260K on it, and it's been a real champ. Bought it brand new. I'll ponder the idling issue and if anything comes to mind I'll repost about it. I had the ignition control module go out once and it ran like [censored]. It's about $40 for a new one.

I replaced the ICM, they had an issue with them which resulted in a class action lawsuit, it made no difference in my case.