A suggestion....
You refer to other cars :
Friend with an 87 T passed his emissions test on the second try. He has an identical setup except he is running a TE44 instead of a TA49. He had to drop the fuel pressure down to 32 psi.
HC at 40km/h was 105. Limit was 106.
He also had an exhaust leak that was easlily heard. Probably crossover pipe.
1.I suggest you forget what others cars do or don't do... If your car has the broken exhaust, I think you should get it welded, to remove that from the list of possible problems

.. Just because it's a "hairline" crack when cold, doesn't mean it stays that way when hot. [I've welded many and find that the cracks open up when I heat the tube w/ the TIG torch.]
2. The wierd engine operation w/ the scan tools hooked up can be caused by the tool forcing the ECM to go to diagnostic mode..
When you plug the tool in, does the idle rise up over 1000?? If so, that's a signal the ECM is not in "hiway" mode.
Back under my injector bench...
