Well, I took care of it today. Took about an hour as you all said. Tried going the hand tool method for removal, but the injectors wouldn't budge. Impact wrench did the trick and made it a piece of cake. Really. It couldn't have been easier or more straightforward and I barely worked up a sweat using the impact wrench method. Replaced heat shields, threaded everything by hand, torqued everything to 70nm per Bentely. Replaced the soft braided lines as they were a little brittle. Did not crack the pipes at the injector, but it started up just fine (after a couple of 10 second bouts of cranking). Adjusted max fuel and idle. Test drive turned up one leaky pipe at the injector, but a little more torque on it and all is well. Doesn't feel/sound like there is any air in the system and everything runs nice and smooth. Definitely felt more acceleration and noticed less smoke overall. Still some smoke at WOT, but that's probably because the fuel is still turned up a little bit over stock...which is fine. I barely notice it in the rear view mirror, even at WOT, so it can't be that bad. I may turn it down a bit to see if I can achieve no smoke...just for the fun of it. It's an older motor, so non-smoke may be a non-option.
So far, the most "advanced" repair I've done (for whatever that is worth). Building up confidence to do the IP (Giles) and timing belt. As yet, I have never failed to be amazed and encouraged at how doable repairs are on this little Rabbit. If I can do it, chances are anyone out there searching for advice on these forums can do it, as well.
Thanks again!