Its me, putty again with more questions to annoy and irritate!

My two Merc Gurus Brian and Dave have left me a little in the dark about minor questions about my SDL with the 603 motor.

1. What is the process to completely block the EGR? and I live in an Emissions county...how will this affect that?

2. I once removed my Alda head to change out a stop valve...are you telling me that I can take this thing off my IP and drive around just fine!? Seems like such a strange extra step to just reduce black smoke.

3. I shoved a nail in the 4 way tee at my Vacuum pump to block off the EGR...what else (vacuum wise) would I need to do to get rid of that passenger side engine ugliness?

Im totally a picture person...Im really stupider than I type...any help would be great especially with a person who would be considered a greenhorn who really REALLY wants to learn.