I have a 1984 ford ranger 2.3 1bbl the timing belt broke I put on a new one lined everything up.its running smooth but its got a knock to it.the oil I just changed.it sounds like its coming from the front of the engine.if I give it a little gas it stops until I give it a lot of gas then it smokes and knocks can u help please.

 

Suggest doing a compression test before going any further.

 

From my experience when theres a timing issue theres a crushed valve or something. I'd just run it into the ground unless you wanna pay to fix it or put the time in to put a new motor in.

 

well if its a valve unplug the coil and tern the truck over if the tern over is smooth and sounds consistent its not a valve, but if it has a stutter, or one cylinder sound different then its a valve and its not that bad ebay new heads valves and valve springs 290.00 new sounds like was put together wrong

 

sounds to me that you have a bent valve and those engines weren't the kind that could let the timing jump and not do some damage to the piston or the valves do a comp. test first and then remove the head and replace it