Stumbles under load

I just bought a high millage vehicle listed above it is the SR model. The engine ran good but had bad ticking at idle that would go away with throttle. I decided to change timing belt, water pump, oil pump, hydraulic lifters, plugs, cables, crank and cam sensors. Now after reassembled, the engine still has the same excessive ticking but now stumbles when I put it in gear and has no power and backfires. In park, it idles a little rough and smooths out when you give it gas and is hardly drivable. When replacing everything, I broke the EGR from the exhaust to intake manifold, so I deleted it for lack of replacement part availability. 


when I installed the lifters, I tried to follow your directions by bleeding them before installing. They came full of oil, so I took a pin and pumped a few times to make them squeezable. Is there a chance that they are not priming and pressurizing therefore not allowing the valves full open/closing range? Or do I possibly need the EGR to work? 


This engine by the way is a pain. You have to remove the intake manifold just to get to the injectors and spark plugs, so a lot of diagnostic methods are a pain. Also, no codes when jumping obd1 port.