86 Ford Escort runs rough at mid range rpms

86 Ford Escort, 1.9L, 2 barrel carb., auto, wagon, 146k
While I was persuing a bad vibration in my car that I have described in another thread, I discovered the engine does not run smoothly. :banghead: In fact it seems to be contributing to the observed vibrations. Apparently the engine does not run smoothly from 2000 rpm to 3000 rpm. I'm now observing it even as low as 1500 rpm. Unfortunately, that is the main speed the engine operates at while driving. The trans likes to shift to 2000 rpm so it tends to bog down and struggle after a gear change. While jacked up with no resistance against the trans, it would upshift just above 2000 rpm, but the engine had a real hard time getting past 2000 rpm to get the trans to shift up. I did check the cap and rotor. They were ok. I cleaned them but no improvement ocurred. No readily apparent vacuum sounds. I need to investigate this further, plugs, vac sounds, air filter region, this things has a friggin ton of emission crap on it!?! Any words of experience would be greatly appreciated. I am hoping someone might know of something uniquely specific to this car that may be causing this or what tends to cause this, as I'm already familiar with routine maintenance items that would cause this. Thanks :smile:
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Check plugs and plug wires. One bad wire can really make an engine vibrate. Do a compression test on the cylinders.