Joe. by any chance does this car have Cali. emissions? Check the Mass air Flow sensor if it does.
yes their is a way to check timing chain wear without disassembly. what you do is put the timing marking on TDC (0). with the distributor cap off, move the crank pulley by hand SLOWLY and watch the distributor rotor and see how much it moves. what i mean is if you move the crank pulley 7 degrees and the distributor rotor hasnt moved yet, then you have some wear. shouldnt be more than 5 MAX! next thing to do to see if you have a jumped chain is do a compression check. or put it on TDC #1 and see where the distributor rotor is pointing. i should be pointing smack dab on #1 on the distributor cap. oh make sure the KEY IS OFF when you do these tests just to remind you! couple of times i forgot! DOH!
As for the EGR, i hear ya. it needs replacement.