As long as you have the compression within spec you should pass regardless of whether you run 89 or 94. what are your compression readings?
My car passed the pipe test without the egr. The cat was present.
I think high HC could also be unburnt fuel.

try retarding the timing in order to squeeze by, but there are no proper band-aid solutions.

if you are not as efficient as you could be, you are losing power too.