Removing the EGR and blocking it is fine (most guys will either block it off or just leave it there disconnected). None of the EGR stuff is helpful with the engine anyway (I have the G63B 2.0 and I physically cut the entire gas gallery out of the manifold and did a bunch of other mods to it to delete the EGR junk. I may yet go one step further and cut the EGR mount off the manifold and seal it with JB weld and alu shavings...) Only one hose for the brake booster (the big one off #4 intake runner next to the heater hose connection - yeah, don't nerf your brakes. They're kinda important...). The 38 will give good all round performance but will be less likely to struggle when you're planting your foot down (you should still be getting around 25mpg - it's an improvement over the Mikuni) There are a couple of reasons why owners do the Weber swap. The Mikuni is complicated, not cheap to fix and really holds these engines back. Don't know what to suggest with the spark plugs other than visually check the threads. I am mystified on how anybody strips a spark plug thread out. They must use a mallet to install their plugs