Top advice there, mr espace - thanks.
Well, finally got the car fixed today, but this is what happened....
Was having no luck locating second hand parts (and to be honest, I didn't think it would be worth it). In the end, I bought a brand new EGR valve from GSF Parts for £65 plus VAT. This is listed for the Laguna but is exactly the same for the Espace (using the G8T engine).
Anyways, as I also needed the metal pipe, a trip down to the dealers was in order. When I got there, I was told that they don't keep it in stock and would have to be ordered in, along with all the required bolts and gaskets. The problem was that, they wouldn't sell the pipe to me without the EGR valve as it was apparently a modified unit and you had to buy both (or it was sold as a sigle item or something like that)!
I wasn't happy but bit the bullet - total cost of parts was £212 of which £120-something plus VAT was for the EGR valve, £45-something plus VAT for the metal pipe, and the rest was for the 4 bolts (torx screws now), 2 nuts, 2 studs and the 3 gaskets.
Gave it to the local garage to fit today - he was cussing and cursing when I picked it back up. Even with the driver's side engine mounting removed and the gearbox centre bolt out (thanks again mr espace), he had to do most of it by 'feel' and from underneath using mirrors!
Now this is the amazing bit... took the car for a 5 minute blast... it was still smoking heavy, but the power was unbelievable! I was almost spinning the wheels when changing upto 2nd gear. Don't remember her having this much pull ever. Can the EGR make that much of a difference? Could hear the turbo whizzing aswell for the first time!
Anyhow, seems the smoke cleared after a while (it left a trail on the road when I first took her from the garage - was visble when I got back there).
Need to put a new MOT on her now. Think I need to take her for a good blast first though, to clear the exhaust and all that and this would probably give me a better idea of whether or not the car has iomproved (or if it's just a result of a lighter pocket
)... any recommended products I could use?
PS, thanks to everyone for their help on this. Curious about the power increase with the EGR valve though