Reinstall the egr gasket, valve and nuts.
Inspect fuel injector ends to make sure you didn’t damage them or contaminate them.
Make sure the injector recesses on the fuel rail are clean!!!!
Carefully work the fuel rail back into position. It won’t just fall back into place.
Hand install the 3 fuel rail nuts. Leave them 1 turn loose.
Gently twist each fuel injector back and forth 1/8″ in each direction to seat the o-rings correctly. Mine leaked like a sieve until I did this.
Tighten the center nut first, then alternately tighten the end nuts on the fuel rail. This pattern helps the o-rings also seat well.
Bolt the injector wiring harness onto the fuel rail with the two bolts using a 10mm socket. Barely tighten them with your ratchet.
Now bolt the FITV and IACV back onto the intake manifold. Check that the o-rings are in place and are not contaminated. New o-rings are not a bad plan.
Reconnect the vacuum line and return fuel line back to the fuel pressure regulator.
Put the PCV valve back in place into the valve cover. Start the engine and use a flashlight to check for fuel leaks!
Note: The car will take several more seconds to start than normal since the fuel rail is empty and not pressurized. Plus the engine will miss a couple of beats for about 1 second.
Results: So far with 140 miles since the egr task was finished, pure perfection! The car no longer hesitates or bucks on acceleration. It might even idle a tiny bit smoother. Now I have to chase down the intermittent hard starting issue and the intermittent surging idle issue. I’ve started separate threads to cover these next two items.