Alrighty, so i took the egr off and found that elusive vacuum hose leak:
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While everything is off i replaced the vacuum hose, The EGR seems to be alright, its got some buildup but it seems to be functioning properly. I did the "depress and hold your finger over the hole" test and it passed that, but that's as much as i know about them. I also replaced the gasket. Still got some leaks, and i'm not 100% sure its running perfect yet, but that seemed to make a difference. I think my timing is off at the distributor which may be causing some of my other issues. I'm also going to run some fuel system cleaner through the second tank of gas and possibly a bottle or two over the next couple tanks. I'll post an update in a couple days to verify how it is running.